Momoyo's CV
Momoyo Kokubu was born in Osaka. She studied the piano with Isako Asakura and the organ with Hiroko Yoneyama and Michio Akimoto in Tokyo. From 1988, her teachers were Nicholas Danby for the organ, Robert Wolley for the Harpsichord, Peter Element for the Piano and Lisa Besnosiuk for the Baroque chamber music at the Royal College of Music. She obtained her Performer's Doploma of organ in 1992, winning two internal organ prizes. With the Ensemble Galant she won the first prize in the first London Early Music Competition in 1994, she played the fortepiano in the Mozart repertory.
She was the finalist in the Freiberg Silbermann International Organ Competition in 1995 and the Maastricht International Organ Competition in 2000.
Momoyo came to live in Brussels in 1994 and she obtained her Premier Prix with grand distinction in the class of Jean Ferrard in 2000, as well as the Prix Mailly, at the Conservatoire Royale de Musique de Bruxelles.
She had also studied during the summer classes with Xavier Darrasse, Gilian Weir, Piet Kee, Kenneth Gilbert, Jean Boyer, Lorenzo Gielmi and Louis Robilliard.
Momoyo is one of the two organists of the church of Our Lady of Finisterrae in Brussels since 1996. After the renovation of the Loret great organ of the church by the organ nuilder Thomas of Ster-Francorchamps, Belgium in 2000, she started the "Lundi d'Orgue/ Orgel op Maandag" the free lunchtime organ concert every with her husband and co-titulaire of the organ, Xavier Deprez.
Having obteined her diploma of organ teaching in 2004, she has been teaching the organ in the Petite Ecole d'Orgue de Bruxelles (asbl MeloPhone CD and Score), and in two Belgian Music Academies (St Grégoire in Tournai and another in Watermael-Boitsfort).
Momoyo took part in the projects such as "All Vierne Organ Symphonie Concerts" where she played the third symphonie on the Schijven & Van Bever organ in the churh of Laeken in 2004, "The Book of Ruth" an oratorio written by Solange Labbé for the Bruxelles Toussaint 2006 in the Finisterae church, and "All Messiaen Organ Works Festival" in 2008 where she played the Ascention and other pieces.
She has recorded the Sonate of Alphonse Mailly in 2000 (SIC006), the Violin Sonate of César Franck with Jean-Michel Alexandre in 2004 (MeloPhone), Réquiem of Maurice Duruflé in 2006, and "Bach in e-Moll" which is the first of a series of six CDs (each CD containing one trio sonate and works of the related tonality). The « Bach in c-Moll » in 2010, the « Bach in d-Moll » in 2011 followed and all three received best CD of the month prize on the « Record Geijutsu » magazine in Japan. After the « Bach in G-Dur » in 2014, it was the CD « Filiæ plays Couperin » with her Baroque quartet FILIÆ came out in 2018. The last recording she participated is “Le Vent”, with the compositions of Xavier Deprez, which appeared in 2022.
Momoyo plays organ recitals and concerts in Europe and in Japan, with her husband in four hands and with FILIÆ as a Basso Continuo.