MITSUKO UCHIDA
Mitsuko Uchida Awarded Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2027
Japanese-British pianist Mitsuko Uchida will be the 2027 recipient of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize and the DKK 1 million (approximately €134,000) that accompanies the award. For more than four decades, she has occupied a unique position in the world of classical music, renowned for her intense and deeply personal interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Schoenberg in particular. On 30 May 2027, she will receive the prize at a gala concert at the DR Concert Hall in Copenhagen – her first concert in Denmark in more than 20 years.
AVAILABLE NOW
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 109, 110 & 111
World-renowned pianist Mitsuko Uchida releases a new album of Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas, Op. 109-110-111. Recorded live at Suntory Hall in Japan (October 2025), this marks her second and final recording of these works, following her first in 2006. Widely regarded as a peerless interpreter of Beethoven, Uchida follows her acclaimed recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, which won a Gramophone Award in 2022 and was nominated for a Grammy in 2023. Composed between 1820 and 1822 alongside his Missa solemnis, Beethoven’s final piano sonatas represent the pinnacle of his writing for the instrument, transcending traditional sonata form, through profound introspection and emotional journeys from struggle to serenity.
Mitsuko Uchida & Magdalena Kožená perform
Debussy: Ariettes oubliées : I. C’est l’extase
BIOGRAPHY
One of the most revered artists of our time, Mitsuko Uchida is renowned as a peerless interpreter of the works of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, as well for being a devotee of the piano music of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and György Kurtág.
She was Musical America’s Artist of the Year in 2022, Music Director of the 2024 Ojai Music Festival, and a Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist from 2022 to 2025. From 2016 to 2025 she was an artistic partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and directed a multi-season touring cycle of Mozart piano concertos from the keyboard. Her latest recording, a recital of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas recorded live at Suntory Hall, was released in the summer of 2026.
Her 2026/7 season sees appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti, including a pair of special concerts in Tokyo for the 40th anniversary of Suntory Hall; recitals in Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Vienna, London, Luxembourg, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York; and further concerto performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen, the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (also with Vladimir Jurowski), the Berlin Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel, and the New York Philharmonic (also with Gustavo Dudamel).
