Riko Ando is a 9th grader at Branham High School in San Jose, California. Born in Japan, she moved to the United States with her family in 2019. She has been playing the piano since the age of five.

Riko is currently studying piano performance with Hang Li at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-College Division. Before moving to the United States, she studied under Eiko Nagano in Japan.

Riko has won awards in numerous competitions including the Grand Prize in the ENKOR International Competition (2022), first prize in the Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition Junior Division (2022), first prize in the United States Open Music Competition junior showcase category, second prize in the Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Annual Competition 14-17 age group (2021), first prize in the Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC) Piano Concerto Solo Competition in the 13-15 age group (2020), and second prize in the 72nd All Japan Student Music Concours in the Kitakyushu primary school category (2018).

Apart from solo performance, Riko is also an avid chamber musician. During the summer of 2022, she participated in the Koret Young Performers Concerts at Music@Menlo. In 2020, she was nominated as a student of the Piano Academy founded by Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. Riko has participated in master classes with acclaimed pianists including Dina Yoffe and Ruth Slenczynska.

In her spare time, Riko enjoys watching musicals and ballet.

REPERTOIRE

Round I

Mozart            Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576

Liszt                 Transcendental Etude No. 12, Chasse-neige, in B-flat minor, S. 139

Ravel               Miroirs: IV. Alborada del gracioso

Round II

Bach                Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in E-flat minor, BWV 853/WTC 1

Chopin             Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31

Prokofiev         Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28

Kapustin          Eight Concert Etudes: No. 3, Toccatina, in E minor, Op. 40

Round III

Grieg               Concerto in A minor, Op. 16