Rachel Naomi Kudo, First Prize winner of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig, captivates audiences worldwide with her “heartfelt, courageous, and flawless playing” (Lübecker Nachrichten). Acclaimed as a “thrilling” artist of “exceptional artistic merit and meticulous precision,” she brings to every performance a rare fusion of profound musical insight, poetic sensitivity, and commanding artistry.

Since her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Rachel has performed at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe, Asia, and North America, including Bachfest Leipzig, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Salle Cortot in Paris, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój, Denmark’s Tivoli Festival, and Norway’s Bergen International Festival. In the United States, her appearances include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Weill Recital Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Alice Tully Hall.

Rachel’s accolades reflect a career marked by distinction and artistic commitment. A Gilmore Young Artist Award and Davidson Fellows Scholarship Laureate, she has also received the Salon de Virtuosi Grant and scholarships from the National YoungArts Foundation and the Rohm Music Foundation. She was a top prizewinner at the U.S. National Chopin Piano Competition and a finalist at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Born in Washington, D.C., to Japanese-Korean parents, Rachel began piano studies at age four with Emilio del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago. Following her early years in Japan, she returned to the United States, where she developed a passion for chamber music and played violin in her high school orchestra. She later studied with Kum-Sing Lee in Vancouver and was featured on NPR’s From the Top.

Woman in a red dress playing a black grand piano with a theater backdrop.

Rachel earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at The Juilliard School under Yoheved Kaplinsky and Joseph Kalichstein, where she was awarded the Arthur Rubinstein Prize, the Chopin Prize, and the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship. A two-time First Prize winner of the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition at Juilliard, she pursued further studies with Richard Goode at Mannes School of Music, earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Gilbert Kalish at Stony Brook University, and continued her studies with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Her artistic development has been shaped through master classes with Robert Levin, Emanuel Ax, and András Schiff at Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshops, as well as through residencies at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Prussia Cove International Musicians Seminar, the Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Encounters.

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A passionate advocate for music’s transformative power, Rachel brings the same expressive clarity to her public speaking as she does to her performances. She has served as a livestream host for the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2021 and 2025, as well as for the Cliburn Junior Piano Competition and the U.S. National Piano Competition, connecting global audiences with the artistry of emerging young musicians. In 2021, she gave the premiere of Suite à l’ancienne by Marc-André Hamelin, commissioned by the Gilmore Piano Festival. Most recently, in January 2025, she served on the jury of the National Chopin Piano Competition of the United States.