The Japanese Natsumi SAWA and the Hungarian Antal DERI, students of François Espinasse at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSMD) in Lyon, will be giving a recital at the Mai de l’Orgue in the Notre Dame Priory in Cunault on Sunday 12 May 2024 at 5 pm.
- Natsumi SAWA was born in Ishikawa, Japan, and began playing the piano at the age of 4 and the organ at the age of 7.
She entered Senzoku Gakuen Music University in 2012, where she studied organ with Yumiko Ogino and piano with Masako Yoshitake. In 2016, she graduated in organ with the highest mark in her class, and was then selected for the annual young graduates’ concert at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre.
After a year of further training, she became an intern at the Minato Mirai concert hall in Yokohama, where she was taught by Hatsumi Miura. She has given numerous solo and orchestral concerts in Japan.
In 2018, Natsumi was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSMD) in Lyon under François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger. She also studied harpsichord with Yves Rechsteiner, and improvisation with Gabriel Marghieri. In recent years, she has been invited to concerts and festivals throughout France. She has extended her skills to free improvisation with Jean-Marc Foltz, and gives improvisation concerts with images, stories and yoga.
In 2023, she won second prize in the Jean-Louis Florentz International Organ Competition. Natsumi SAWA is currently organist at Saint-Augustin-de-la-Croix-Rousse church in Lyon.
- Antal DERI was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1997, and began his piano studies at the age of 6.
At the age of 18, he began studying the organ with Zsuzsa Elekes at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest. He continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. He then studied with János Pálúr.
He also studied improvisation with László Fassang, organology with Balázs Szabó and the history of the repertoire with István Ruppert. He has taken part in several master classes with leading organists such as Christoph Bossert, Louis Robilliard, Michel Bouvard, Martin Schmeding, Olivier Latry and Wolfgang Zerer.
He won prizes at the Max Reger National Organ Competition in Hungary in 2016 and at the First International Maltese Organ Competition in 2019.
Since 2018, he has been organist and singer at the Franciscan Church of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue in Budapest. He is currently an Erasmus student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSMD) in Lyon.
About the Mai de l’Orgue
Since its creation in 1995, the vocation of this musical event has been to put the spotlight on young artists on the road to professionalism and to introduce them to the Cunault organ. It has enabled the public at the Prieurale de Cunault to discover and applaud over a hundred musicians, most of whom have gone on to become major players in the world of the organ and music. Since 2023, Thomas Pellerin, organ professor at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional d’Angers and co-artistic director of the Heures Musicales de Cunault, has been artistic director of the Mai de l’Orgue, succeeding Eric Lebrun, founder of the event and organ professor at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.
