Gerald A. Tracy Memorial Piano Competition

About

In the spring term of each year, the Department of Music holds the Gerald A. Tracy Memorial Piano Competition, in which undergraduate piano students perform and compete for first, second, and third prize awards.

2025 Tracy Piano Competition

Saturday, May 10, 2025
Competition: 11:00 a.m. in Sudikoff 143
Masterclass with Eliko Akahori: 2:00 p.m. in Sudikoff 045

Judges: Sally Pinkas, Stephanie Rogers, and special guest judge Eliko Akahori

Registration due and mystery piece available: April 11

Eliko Akahori has appeared as a recitalist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist to great acclaim in the United States, Europe, and Asia. This year's projects include a recording with Midori and A Far Cry for Midori's ORP Project, a world premiere of Reinaldo Moya's "It was turning in a circle (2024)" for two pianos and a recital with Karl-Heinz Schütz, principal flutist in Vienna Philharmonic. Past collaborators in recitals, chamber music concerts, recordings and radio/television broadcasts include members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago, Montreal, Boston and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, among others.

In the Boston area, Ms. Akahori has also appeared in concerts with A Far Cry, Winsor Music, Monadnock Music, and has performed regularly with Cantata Singers and Community MusicWorks. Eliko received the first prize, Coleman-Barstow Award, in the 57th Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition and has performed in many festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, IMAI in Maine, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. Eliko is currently a performance faculty and director of the music performance program at Wellesley College.

Eliko Akahori holds a Doctorate of Music in Collaborative Piano and Master's degree in Music Theory, both from the New England Conservatory of Music and Bachelor's degree in Composition from the Kunitachi College of music in Japan. Upon her graduation, Eliko was invited to perform for the Japanese Emperor's Family in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.