Photo by Kan Okano

"Impressively crisp fingerwork and consistent energy"

"Kato's performance interpretive clarity to the music's density, and she performed with eloquence"

Kato plays "with finesse and a lovely, delicate touch."

"...imaginative programming savvy and, of course, her generous presence and colorful, scintillating pianism"

      "Seldom in all my years as a composer have I had the rewarding experience of working with a performer like Sachiko Kato who so deeply understands the aesthetic of my music. In need of no verbal suggestions from me, she easily keyed into the essence of the music, into what the music is about. With a beautiful naturalness she brought the music across to the audience. She performed with clarity, power and grace."

      "Sachiko Kato performed the works of Scriabin, Mozart, Takemistu and at Klavierhaus in New York City on Friday, November 17, 2006.

      Kato brought such force of intent, presence and conceptual rigor to her recital that she provided new insights into many of the warhorses of the piano repertoire. In her hands, one was reminded what revolutionaries each of these composers were in their day. Her playing of three Debussy etudes sounded more like Stockhausen, than some gentle colorist. Her performance gave credence to the stories of the sheer intensity that Debussy's music had on the salons of Paris and his reputation as a sought-after lover. The remarkable sonic range of the Fazioli piano granted her the ability to control and create differentiations of the most subtle colorations, providing ample room for her to explore the ecstatic visions of Scriabin (who seemed genuinely mad through her prism). The Takemitsu was a study in the craft of how a pianist can use touch and pedal to control a piano's overtones to create a musical painting. Even the tried-and-true Rachmaninoff pieces were new explorations of harmony and color.

      Perhaps it was in the most traditional repertoire she found her most revolutionary voice. Her Mozart C Major Sonata was a miniature universe onto itself. Precise and almost minuscule in execution, it came off as a tiny miniature writ large, spread across a grand expanse of time. The end result gave the listener the impression of studying the structure of Mozart's musical world from some Olympian height. Her performance of his F minor Ballade, Chopin came off, not as an effete Romanticist, but as an intense, passionate rebel, exploring the outer bounds of music.

      Oddly, what this performance seemed to demonstrate is that the dissemination and growth of great technique throughout the piano world has in its way softened the edges of the great composers. Music, that once pushed the boundaries of the pianism of its day, is now the mandatory etudes of the every conservatory student. Kato with technique, passion, and blinding intent pushes the envelope, once again reminding us that this music was once the province of the farthest edge of the avant-garde."