Naoko Maeda - Concert Pianist

My first CD "Naoko Maeda at UCMC"was released in public this week.
You can have my CD through me or at the Ottley music school now!
The Ottley music school:
http://ottleymusic.org/index.php

The CD was recorded at the United Cheverly Methodist Church
last November.
It includes from Scarlatti, Mozart, Schumann, and Gershwin.

Here are titles:
*Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti : Sonata No12 C Major

*Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : “Twelve Variations on "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star--Ah vous dirai-je, Maman"

*Robert Schumann : “Papillon”

*George Gershwin : 12 Song Hits Arranged by George Gershwin
Do-DO-DO
Do It Again
Fascinating Rhythm
I’ll Built a Stainway to Paradise
The Man I Love
Nobody But You
Oh, Lady Be Good
Somebody Loves Me
Swanee
Sweet and Low Down
‘S Wonderful
Liza(All the Clouds’ll Roll Away)

Total time is about 45 min..
And price is $15.

I bet you love my CD, because I do love it!

Finally, I made a CD to Yoko, my friend, and it is ready to ship. I used the Talia's painting for the design of the CD and the CD became very pretty.

I am now going to focus on performances and making my next CD that will include pieces all composed and performed by myself...a long way to go.

The pieces included in this CD is:
1. To Yoko

2. Everything's Just Flowing


Shown below is the design of the CD to Yoko.

Cover

(Click to enlarge)

CD

(Click to enlarge)

The performance at the Cheverly United Methodist Church has been released on CD. All classical pieces and 12 Gershwin pieces were packed into the CD. A church photo at the performance is the cover. Beautiful, isn't it!

Fifth Piece "Everything's just flowing"

Everything that surrounds us is transitory and is changing/flowing constantly. Not only the tangible but the intangible also changes. If everything flows, let’s enjoy it with upbeat and fun music!

Fourth Piece "August 5th and 8th"

August makes me feel depressed. Deeply depressed. It should be the month most people can enjoy hot weather and cool water with their families or beloved ones. But it was the time when people began to work on August 6, 1945 in Japan and it was the time when people were just enjoying their dinner on August 5, 1945 in Washington, D.C. And today, August 9 in Japan and August 8 in the USA, is the day that Nagasaki got the bomb.

I am neither a politician nor a historian so I have no mind to discuss whether bombing two cities was the best choice or not. But the truth was that innocent people from unborn babies to helpless elders were killed in a moment. Some even evaporated in the moment without noticing they were killed.

I hope all atomic bombs will disappear from this planet soon.

CD Cover

A young talented painter, Talia, gave me her art for my second CD. I wanted to have her painting and asked her if I could have one. Her painting just suited my feeling and the theme of the CD, “My Thought.”
It is the scenery in my mind when I ponder on my daily life, future, music, etc... I am sitting on the hill hugging my knees. A puff of wind blows my hair. My eyes float over the pastoral scenery contemplating numerous things. I do not even know if I am actually seeing the scenery or not, but after long contemplation, suddenly the silhouette springs into my mind.

Third Piece "Bach Minuet (Menuet) G minor Arrangement"

Bach, Chopin, Debussy... what beautiful music pieces they created! I have been thinking how happy I will be if I arrange such pieces into jazz or my original music. The challenge has begun.

In this sample first half presents original Bach music
and last half presents the arranged piece by Naoko.

Second Piece "Believe"

Filled with anxiety, I wake up at night, though not every night. What will it be... my future. Can I give something to my daughters like I received from my parents? Can I return the blessing to my husband like I received from him? Can I be successful with my music? I want to believe I can.

First Piece "To Yoko"

The theme for the next CD is "My Thoughts." The title of the coming CD will be made after all peices are composed.

The first composed piece for the CD introduced here is "To Yoko" dedicated to my friend - Yoko. She is always honest and straight. She does not indulge herself working very hard to make her life better... a strong woman. Strong as she is, she has encountered various difficulties that I cannot endure if I were her. However she even confronts face to face with the difficulties. Want to encourage her, if I can, with this piece...

Trio Sakura is going to release its first CD on coming Saturday (06/28/2008). A sample music piece can be listened to at: http://naoko.muxtape.com/

Enjoy the CD!
(For more information, click here.)

Trio Sakura composes of 3 award-winning musicians: a soprano singer (Yoshimi), a violinist (Makiko Taguchi), and a pianist (Naoko Maeda). All are Japan-origin and the trio has been introducing beautiful Japanese songs and performing various music at many places such as the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival.