BIOGRAPHY
Marcel Tadokoro
©Shigeto Imura
“An irresistible mix of ease, joy of playing, and panache — a fearless and refined pianist to watch.”
— Diapason, August 2025 (La Roque-d’Anthéron Festival review)
Marcel Tadokoro was born in Fukuoka, Japan, into a literary family, though neither his French mother nor Japanese father are musicians. He began studying piano at an early age and gave his first public performance at the age of eight. He recalls that moment as the one when he “immediately understood this would be my life.” He continued his studies in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSMDP) and the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional, where he studied with Jean-François Heisser, Florent Boffard, and Olivier Gardon. After completing his Master’s degree at the CNSMDP, he pursued further studies with Rena Shereshevskaya on a scholarship at the
École Normale de Musique de Paris ‘Alfred Cortot’.
Tadokoro has won prestigious prizes at international competitions, such as the John Giordano Jury Chairman Discretionary Award at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and Third Prize at the 20th Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition in the same year. He was also a finalist at the 2021 Concours musical international de Montréal.
He has performed concertos with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, and Aichi Chamber Orchestra, among others. He has given recitals across Europe and Asia. He released the CD "Complète Henselt’s Etudes" on the Naxos label in June 2025.