Harpsichordist and Pianist, Aya Hamada is an active concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and continuo player. Currently she plays principal keyboard for the New York Symphonic Ensemble and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.
She has given numerous recitals and chamber music concerts in major venues throughout Japan as well as the US and Europe, including a recital in "Music in the Mountains; International Recital Series" in New York City. She frequently performs at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In April 2003, she premiered Kati Agocs's "Apollonia (harpsichord concerto)" with the New Juilliard Ensemble, and in 2005 she performed "Concerto for Oboe, Harpsichord and Strings" by Osvaldas Balakauskas in the New Paths in Music Festival in New York City. Last season, she performed J.S.Bach's all Brandenburg Concertos with Kasai Philharmonic Orchestra to a sold-out audience in Japan. She has also performed with the Juilliard Symphony, Ensemble America, and the Berkshire Opera Company. She was recently featured on the cover page of New Jersey Independent Press, and also reviewed in the Boston Globe, the Berkshire Eagle and Springfield Republican.
Ms. Hamada won first prize in the London Music Festival Competition, second prize in the Josef Hofmann Piano Competition, and was also a winner of the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition and the Artists International Auditions. She was a recipient of the Heward Memorial Scholarship and the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship from the Juilliard School.
A native of Kobe, Japan, Ms. Hamada made her debut with the Kobe Chamber Orchestra at the age of seventeen. Since moving to the US, she has earned her master of music degree from the Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Ruth Laredo, Richard Contiguglia, German Diez, Louis Bagger and Lionel Party.
She resides in Manhattan, New York City.