Ota SHION
Shion Ota was born in Osaka, Japan, in 2000. At the age of 20, she graduated from the Tokyo College of Music as a scholarship student. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree at both the Nagoya University of Arts and the Berlin University of the Arts, studying under Yukio Yokoyama, Professor Björn Lehmann, and Norie Takahashi.
Since 2013, she has received numerous awards in national and international competitions. That year, at the age of 13, she won First Prize and five special awards at the Student Music Concours of Japan and also placed 5th at the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy, where she received the Most Promising Artist Award.
Internationally, she has received the 2nd Prize at the Malta International Piano Competition (2018), 1st Prize at the Gloria Artis International Competition (2020), 6th Prize (Noel Mewton-Wood Prize) at the Sydney International Piano Competition (2021), 3rd Prize at the Sendai International Music Competition, 1st Prize at the Coimbra World Piano Meeting (2022), and 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the Concours International de Piano de Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (2024). In 2025, she was selected as a semi-finalist in the Queen Elisabeth Competition.
In 2023, she was awarded the Aoyama Music Newcomer Award for her interpretations of J.S. Bach’s works and for her Bach-themed recital series. She has performed extensively in Japan and abroad, with appearances in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, the United States, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Shion is a recipient of several prestigious scholarships, including those from the Yamaha Music Foundation, Aoyama Music Foundation, Rohm Music Foundation, Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation, and the Paul Hindemith Society in Berlin.
She has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin (DSO), North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra and Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed at renowned venues such as the Rudolfinum in Prague and the Berlin-Brandenburg Radio Station.
In 2018, she was selected as a CHANEL Pygmalion Days Artist by the CHANEL Foundation and gave six solo recitals at CHANEL NEXUS HALL. She has also released her first digital album, SHION OTA – My Select Vol.1, under Warner Music Japan.
