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The Japanese soprano, Shigeyo Tajima, studied vocal music under Ayako Kurokawa and Hiroko Kimura at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. In 1990, she graduated first on the list and proceeded to the higher education. Studied under Hanno Blaschke at the Munich Conservatory in Germany, she received her Master degree in 1994. In the same year, she became a finalist at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich as well as awarded a second prize at the Pfitzner Lieder Competition in Munich.
Her beautiful soprano is recognized as to "the most suitable for the work of Bach and Mozart". Her repertoires include: J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Mass in B-Minor (BWV 232) solo cantata BWV 51, Mozart’s Requiem, c minor Mass, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, Alexander Fest, L.v. Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Symphony No. 9, Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Shigeyo Tajima has also performed together with Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker and Bamberger Oratorien Choir, Dresden Kreuzkirche Knabenchoir and Dresden Philharmonie. Her great performing experiences are mostly at concert halls and churches in Japan, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, e.g. Gasteig Philharmony Hall in Munich, Herkulessaal in Munich. Not only the beauty of her voices but also her fertile expression with ability for concentration is greatly admired. Her interpretation of music is full of styles with controlled vibratos.
Her opera activities include the performance of singing Pamina of Mozart’s Zauberflöte conducted by Sir Colin Davis at Prinzregententheater in 1994. In 1998, she has made her debut in the opera performing same Pamina of Zauberflöte at the summer festival in Traunstein. In March 2000, she sang the role of Elisetta of Cimarosa Il Matrimonio segreto at the Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Shigeyo Tajima is also active in the performance of German Lied. In the past, she studied under Helmuth Deutsch at the Munich Conservatory, and participated in the lectures of Ernst Heflinger, Hans Hotter, Christa Ludwig, and Rainer Hoffmann. She has had recitals at Hikone, Otsu City in Shiga Prefecture, Munich and Amsterdam, and sung the works of Schubert, Robert Schumann, J. Brahms, Wolf, Gustav Mahler and R. Strauss. In 1999, she performed G. Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with New Japan Philharmony conducted by Michiyoshi Inoue. Also she has started a series of recitals to play a full-length of Richard Strauss' Lied since 1999 after 50 years of his death.
Shigeyo Tajima has started to undertake the task of instructing Schneidt Bach Choir since May, 1999 and contributed to the success of a public performance of J. Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem in October 1999. In April and May 2000, she sang soprano-solo in J.S. Bach’s Mass in B-Minor (BWV 232) with Schneidt Bach Choir under Hanns-Martin Schneidt at Neil Blaisdell Concert Hall in Honolulu/Hawaii, USA to commemorate the Honolulu Symphony's 100th Anniversary. She contributed to a great deal to the success of this performance not only as the choir instructor but also as a soloist.
In December 2000, Shigeyo Tajima sang the soprano-solo part in G.F. Handel's The Messiah with Schneidt Bach Choir under Hanns-Martin Schneidt at Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall and in November 2001, in J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion (BWV 245) at Tokyo Operactiy Concert Hall. |
