Aimee Tsuchiya
Teaching Philosophy
Music is a window into ourselves, our culture and communities, linking our past and our present. It engages us as performers and audiences, students and teachers, in a way that taps into our emotions, psyches, creativity and reverence. It should be at once both deeply personal and universally meaningful. Music-making can be the greatest fun or the most heart-felt and elevated expression. For all of these qualities, I believe that music should be in the lives of everyone, experienced and explored with great breadth, both at the instrument and away. My greatest joy and responsibility as a teacher is to help open this window for my students, to introduce and guide them through the technical and theoretical aspects of musical construction and execution, as well as engage them in the history and narrative of each work and its continuing relevance personally and globally. Whether learning scales and etudes, great Classical war-horses or contemporary works, we will enjoy both rigorous attention to detail and broad-view consideration of meaning and interpretation.
Biography
Aimee Tsuchiya is an accomplished pianist and dedicated educator with a diverse career spanning performance and teaching. Her musical journey has taken her across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, where she has appeared as both a soloist and chamber musician.
Ms. Tsuchiya’s performance repertoire is notably broad, encompassing works from Brahms’ first piano concerto to John Cage’s The Perilous Night for prepared piano. She has given several concerto engagements at Mechanics Hall and performed live on WGBH, Chicago Public Radio, and CBC radio. She has played for and with many renowned artists such as Emanuel Ax, Andre Watts, Paul Katz, Donald Weilerstein. the Guarneri Quartet, and members of the Boston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.
Her talent has been recognized through numerous awards, including wins in the Chopin Society Young Artists Competition and the Schubert Club Competition. As a student, Ms.Tsuchiya received fellowships to prestigious music festivals at Tanglewood, Yellow Barn and Interlochen.
As an educator, Ms. Tsuchiya is equally versatile, working with students of all ages and levels in the Boston area, as well as virtually worldwide. Her areas of instruction include solo piano, chamber music, class instruction, and vocal coaching. She holds several positions at New England Conservatory, teaching in both the Prep and Adult Education schools, and also serves on the piano faculty at the Winsor School. She previously was coordinator of the chamber music programs at Brookline Music and Winchester Music Schools.
Ms. Tsuchiya’s previous mentors include Victor Rosenbaum, Lydia Artymiw, and Irma Vallecillo.
Degrees
B.M., summa cum laude, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
M.M. and D.M.A., New England Conservatory