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Draft:Tamami Honma

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  • Comment: (xposted by grapesurgeon from draft talk page) @Grapesurgeon: Thank you for your comments. In response to your suggestion that more substantial coverage of Honma was needed, I have added citations to a four-page profile and interview by Marc Medwin in Fanfare (vol. 48, issue 6, July–August 2025, pp. 85–88), titled "Point, Journey, Universe: An Interview with Tamami Honma", and a review of her Beethoven cycle by Guy Rickards in International Piano (March 2024). I hope these address your notability concerns. I should add Fanfare in particular is a peer-respected specialist publication whose long-form reviews are widely recognised as significant coverage under WP:MUSICBIO. Julian Brown (talk) 05:41, 30 August 2026
  • Comment: Even beyond the potential AI issues, I'm not sure it passes WP:MUSICBIO. This is probably the strongest source in the lot. this also possibly also contributes although it is a blog post. Many of the other sources are just like very brief mentions of Honma, although I am mindful that Honma is like the main soloist of many of these performances. This piece is an example of such. Either way, I think it's possible there's other news pieces or reviews that focus more directly and have more coverage of Honma; could you add more? grapesurgeon (talk) 07:03, 27 August 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: COI declared on talk page. The previous version contained claims that did not match the cited sources; since the decline, I have personally re-verified every citation against the source text (including the NYT, Independent, and SFCV citations), corrected misattributed material, and removed claims that could not be supported. Julian Brown (talk) 04:33, 20 July 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: Sources unchecked and contents incorrectly described in a way that only AI / LLM would do. ChrysGalley (talk) 13:40, 8 June 2026 (UTC)


Tamami Honma is a Japanese-American concert pianist, chamber musician, educator and recording artist. In 2024, she became the first female pianist to record the complete cycle of 35 Beethoven piano sonatas, released as a 10-CD set by Divine Art Recordings.[1] She is an advocate for 20th and 21st-century repertoire, having premiered and recorded works by several British and Lithuanian composers. She serves on the music faculties at Stanford University and Santa Clara University.[2][3]

Education and early history

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Honma studied with Byron Janis, one of the few students of Vladimir Horowitz, at the Manhattan School of Music where she earned a bachelor's degree in piano performance. She subsequently studied with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music in London, earning a master's degree, and joined the Academy's academic faculty; she was later awarded an honorary ARAM degree.[3]

Early in her career, she won first prize at several national and international piano competitions, including the Yamaha Competition at the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) in Little Rock, Arkansas,[4] the Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition,[5] the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition (1990),[6] and the Kingsville (Isabel Scionti) International Young Performers Competition (1991).[7][8] She has also appeared as a soloist at Bolshoi Hall in Moscow with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.[2]

Contemporary music advocacy

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Honma maintained a long-standing collaboration with composer John McCabe. In 2001, she released Star Preludes (Metier), featuring her performance of McCabe's title work alongside violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved.[9] In 2002, she gave the world premiere of McCabe's solo piano study Scrunch at Weill Recital Hall in New York; Allan Kozinn of The New York Times wrote that she "negotiated the work's thickets easily and produced an eloquent, powerful performance".[10][11] On November 28, 2003, she premiered McCabe's "Snowfall in Winter" — like Scrunch, a study dedicated to her — at St John's Smith Square in London; reviewing the concert for The Independent, Robert Maycock wrote that she "played with both flair and immediate understanding".[12] That same year, she released a recording of McCabe's Piano Concerto No. 2 (Sinfonia Concertante) with the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra (Dutton Digital).[13] This partnership culminated in the 2005 recording Two Pianos (Dutton Digital), on which she performed alongside the composer.[14] She contributed the chapter "The Piano Music" to Landscapes of the Mind: The Music of John McCabe (2008), a collection of essays on the composer edited by George Odam.[15] In 2006, she performed piano duets by Alan Rawsthorne and Constant Lambert with McCabe on his recording of Rawsthorne's complete solo piano music (Dutton Digital), which received a Gold Star rating from Gramophone.[16] Beyond McCabe's music, she has also premiered and recorded music by British composer Nigel Clarke on the album Premonitions (2002).[17]

Honma has also been a prominent advocate of Lithuanian music. On October 2, 2003, she made her Wigmore Hall solo recital début, in a program including the world premiere of Cascades-3 by Lithuanian composer Osvaldas Balakauskas;[18] her recording of the work appeared the following year on the compilation Zoom In 3: New Music from Lithuania.[19] At the St John's Smith Square concert that November, she also premiered an arrangement made for her by Lithuanian composer Anatolijus Šenderovas [lt] of his percussion work No moon, no flowers, no friend – and he drinks sake.[12] By decree of President Valdas Adamkus of January 10, 2006, Honma was awarded the Medal of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.[20][21]

In June 2017, Honma was the soloist in the world premiere of a piano concerto by Luis Andrei Cobo, written in collaboration with her, performed with the Cambrian Symphony; the performance was voted "Best New Music Performance" in San Francisco Classical Voice's 2016–17 Best of the Bay readers' poll.[22][23] Her performance of Beethoven concertos with the Cal Arte Ensemble made her a finalist for Best Instrumental Recital Performance in the following year's poll.[24]

In October 2023, Honma performed Busoni's Piano Concerto (1904) with the Saratoga Symphony.[25] The massive, rarely performed work lasts over an hour and is among the most demanding in the piano repertoire; the San Francisco Symphony had given its first performances of the concerto only a few months earlier.[26]

Major recording projects

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Honma's 2008 recording of Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (SOMM), performed in a chamber arrangement with the Vilnius String Quartet, was named The Observer's CD of the week; critic Stephen Pritchard wrote that Honma "plays exquisitely" and called the recording "a complete delight".[27][28]

In 2024, Honma completed a multi-year project to record all 35 of Beethoven's piano sonatas for the Divine Art label, following the ABRSM critical edition edited by Barry Cooper and presenting the sonatas in broadly chronological order.[29] The recordings grew out of a "Beethoven Odyssey" Honma began in February 2016, in which she performed the cycle of 32 piano sonatas in concert along with the ten violin sonatas, the five piano concertos and the Choral Fantasy.[29] Most recorded cycles include only the 32 sonatas to which Beethoven assigned opus numbers; Honma's set also includes the three early Kurfürstensonaten, making it one of very few complete recordings of all 35.[1][30] Reviewing the set in Fanfare, Jerry Dubins described the cycle as "transcendental", comparing aspects of Honma's playing to interpreters including Alfred Brendel, Wilhelm Kempff, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Maurizio Pollini.[30] Writing in International Piano, Guy Rickards praised the consistency of Honma's interpretations across the cycle, noting that "the strengths of Honma's interpretations of the earlier works persist to the end, whether in the lyrical warmth of Op 90's finale or the stratospheric heights of the final three."[29] Honma was also the subject of a lengthy profile and interview in Fanfare by Marc Medwin, discussing her artistic development and approach to the Beethoven Sonatas.[31] In a separate review, Medwin contrasted her approach with Brendel's, describing the cycle as "remarkably complete and endlessly rewarding".[32]

Honma has also written on Beethoven interpretation: her article "Performance Practice in Beethoven: Tempo Modifications and the Role of the Performer in the Creative Process", appeared in Arietta, the journal of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, in 2000.[33]

Discography

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YearAlbum TitleLabelCollaborators
2024Beethoven: The Complete 35 Piano Sonatas (10-CD set)Divine Art
2008Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Chamber Version)SOMMVilnius String Quartet
2006Alan Rawsthorne: Complete Piano MusicDutton DigitalJohn McCabe
2005Two PianosDutton DigitalJohn McCabe
2004Zoom In 3: New Music from Lithuania (compilation)Music Information Centre Lithuania
2003John McCabe: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Sinfonia Concertante)Dutton DigitalSt. Christopher Chamber Orchestra
2003John McCabe: Tenebrae; Sonata; Evening HarmoniesMetier
2002Nigel Clarke: PremonitionsMetierPeter Sheppard Skærved, Janne Thomsen
2001Star Preludes (Works by Alan Rawsthorne and John McCabe)MetierPeter Sheppard Skærved, Christine Sohn
2001Mozart: Sonatas for Violin and PianoMetierHoward Davis
1998Chopin: Solo Favorites for PianoDK Music

References

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  1. 1 2 Evans, John (September 23, 2024). "Tamami Honma plays Beethoven's Complete 35 Piano Sonatas". Pianist Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Tamami Honma". Stanford Department of Music. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Tamami Honma Faculty Profile". Santa Clara University. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Logan Pianists Get 2 Top Music Contest Awards". Deseret News. April 6, 1990. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Nine Young Utahns Picked to Solo on 30th Annual 'Salute to Youth'". Deseret News. October 1, 1989. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Return recital part of circle of learning and sharing". Deseret News. July 10, 2005. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Utah People in the Arts". Deseret News. April 14, 1991. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Isabel Scionti Piano Solo First Place Winners". Kingsville Young Performers Competition. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Star Preludes". Divine Art Recordings. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Works". John McCabe official website. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  11. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (July 2, 2002). "Music Review; Capturing Eclectic Energy and South Asia's Melodies". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  12. 1 2 Maycock, Robert (December 4, 2003). "Operest, St John's, Smith Square, London". The Independent. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Composition Discography". John McCabe official website. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Two Pianos: Stravinsky, McPhee, McCabe, Copland, Britten". Presto Music. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  15. ↑ Honma, Tamami (2008). "The Piano Music". In Odam, George (ed.). Landscapes of the Mind: The Music of John McCabe. Guildhall School of Music & Drama Research Studies. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-5816-0.
  16. ↑ "'Gramophone' Gold Star for Rawsthorne CD". John McCabe official website. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Nigel Clarke: Premonitions". Divine Art Recordings. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  18. ↑ Bramich, Keith (October 14, 2003). "Tamami Honma's Wigmore Hall solo recital début". Music & Vision. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Zoom In 3: New Music from Lithuania". Music Information Centre Lithuania. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Apdovanotų asmenų duomenų bazė: Tamami Honma" [Database of decorated persons: Tamami Honma] (in Lithuanian). Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Dėl Lietuvos Respublikos ir užsienio valstybių piliečių apdovanojimo Lietuvos valstybės ordinais ir medaliais Vasario 16-osios – Lietuvos valstybės atkūrimo dienos proga" [On awarding citizens of the Republic of Lithuania and of foreign states Lithuanian state orders and medals on the occasion of 16 February, the Day of the Restoration of the Lithuanian State] (Presidential Decree No. 491) (in Lithuanian). President of the Republic of Lithuania. January 10, 2006. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Best of the Bay 2016–2017 Winners". San Francisco Classical Voice. August 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Cambrian Symphony Announces "A Tale of Three Cities" – World premiere of Piano Concerto by Luis Andrei Cobo" (Press release). Cambrian Symphony. June 6, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Best of the Bay 2017–2018 Winners". San Francisco Classical Voice. August 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Tamami Honma, pianist". Meet the Artist. 2024-11-04. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  26. ↑ Cohen, Simon (June 27, 2023). "A 100-Year-Old Concerto That Inspires Awe and Wonder at SF Symphony". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  27. ↑ Pritchard, Stephen (December 14, 2008). "Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 2, Honma/Vilnius String Quartet". The Observer. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
  28. ↑ "Chopin's Concertos in chamber versions as "The Observer" CD of the Week". PWM Edition. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  29. 1 2 3 Rickards, Guy (March 2024). "Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas (Tamami Honma)". International Piano. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  30. 1 2 Dubins, Jerry (July–August 2025). "Beethoven: Complete 35 Piano Sonatas". Fanfare. 48 (6): 88–90. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  31. ↑ Medwin, Marc (July–August 2025). "Point, Journey, Universe: An Interview with Tamami Honma". Fanfare. 48 (6): 85–88.
  32. ↑ Medwin, Marc (January–February 2025). "Beethoven: Complete 35 Piano Sonatas". Fanfare. 48 (3): 144. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  33. ↑ Honma, Tamami (Autumn 2000). "Performance Practice in Beethoven: Tempo Modifications and the Role of the Performer in the Creative Process". Arietta. 2. Beethoven Piano Society of Europe: 25–33.
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