INES IRAWATI
Known for her expressivity, virtuosity, and versatility, Ines Irawati is in demand both as a solo recitalist and a collaborative pianist. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, she began piano and composition instruction at age six at the Yamaha Music School in Indonesia. At age 12, she made her official debut playing the third Beethoven Piano Concerto and Chopin's first concerto with the Indonesian Youth Symphony.
Ms. Irawati was educated at Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Olga Radosavljevich, Vivian Weilerstein, Anne Epperson, and Donald Weilerstein. Ms. Irawati also holds a Masters of Music degree from Yale University, where she studied with Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, and Kikuei Ikeda of the Tokyo String Quartet. As both a solo and collaborative pianist, she has participated in master classes with such noted musicians as Emmanuel Ax, Murray Perahia, Martin Katz, Barbara Bonney, and Dawn Upshaw.
"One of the most vital, imaginative, artistic young people on the scene.
Her way with lyricism was as vivid as her crisp definition of the scampering material...
without fear, negotiating the digital demands smoothly while remaining mindful of the score's
rhythmic accents and nuances."
-Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer -
Ms. Irawati is currently enjoying a richly varied performance career, excelling in solo performance, chamber music, collaborative piano, and operatic vocal coaching. Her recent engagements include performances for TEDxSan Diego at Copley Symphony Hall, the Art of Élan, concerts with San Diego Opera’s Opera Exposed!, Musikamar chamber concerts, and performances with the Aviara Trio. Ms. Irawati recently served as the Musical and Artistic Director of San Diego Opera's Young Artist Training Program. She has also served as the vocal coach and collaborative piano faculty at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Her education also includes a summer music festival at the Music Academy of the West where she was awarded Best Vocal Pianist by the Marilyn Horne Foundation. She has performed at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City as well as The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall.
Ms. Irawati has won numerous prizes from competitions internationally, including the Suburban Concerto Competition, the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, the D'angelo International Young Artists Competition, and the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus Competition. She was also invited to perform Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra at Severance Hall.
As a performer and a composer, Irawati has performed her own compositions all over Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. She was accepted to the Junior Original Concert, a prestigious music program where young musicians compose original works and perform them around the world. At the age of 15, she was invited to the International UNICEF Benefit in Japan, where she performed her concerto with the Tokyo Symphony. Her composition teachers include the late renowned Indonesian composer Slamat Abdul Syukur, and Donald Erb. Her work for solo flute, “Flirting Belugas”, was published by the Manduca Music Publication.
Ms. Irawati currently lives in San Diego with her husband and their two children.