Praised for her “emotional warmth and celestial lyricism” (Elena Vorotko, Keyboard Charitable Trust), London-based-pianist Ayane Nakajima enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, collaborator, and chamber musician. Active across the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany, she has appeared in major venues including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the New World Center.
Ayane’s concert highlights include performances at Klavier Festival Bayreuth, the Minnesota Orchestra’s Summer at Orchestra Hall, Lake District Summer Music, and the London Song Festival. She actively participates in summer festivals, including the Ácademie d’Été de Nice and the Marlboro Music Festival, where her piano trio, Trio Auri, will be doing a residency in December of 2026.
She is a prizewinner in competitions including Pianale, YoungArts, the International Keyboard Odyssiad, and Young Texas Artists. Additional accolades include her nomination as a 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholar, the 2023 Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts from Rice University, and First Prize in the 2024 Royal College of Music Concerto Competition.
Deeply committed to championing the voices of living composers, Ayane is passionate about bringing contemporary works into dialogue with the classical canon. She has premiered works both as a répétiteur and soloist for composers including Guilherme de Almeida, Daniel Zlatkin, Thordur Magnusson, and Eunike Tanzil, among others.
A devoted song pianist and chamber musician, she has won top prizes at the Young Musicians’ Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Competition, as well as pianist prizes at the AESS Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition and the RCM Brooks Van der Pump Competition.
Growing up in New York City, Ayane began her piano studies at the age of three with Chaim Freiberg at the Kaufman Music Center. From ages six to seventeen, she studied with Dr. Hiromi Fukuda and graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She earned her Bachelor of Music from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the guidance of Dr. Jon Kimura Parker and later graduated with distinction from her postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music, where she studied with Danny Driver.
She is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Ronan O’Hora, Charles Owen, and Bretton Brown. Her mentors include Mitsuko Uchida, Akiko Ebi, Jonathan Biss, Jon Kimura Parker and Danny Driver.
