Naoko Sakata is a Japanese pianist and improviser based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Naoko is recognised for her fearless and intuitive improvisations and her heartfelt playing has become her personal trademark. Her music reaches from the very depths of calm poetic beauty to intense explosive chaos, where everything comes together as one powerful expression.
She began playing the piano naturally at an early age. She had perfect pitch from the start, playing the piano felt like speaking for her. She simply imitated what she heard - from the music on television and from her mother’s piano lessons.
In 2008, she moved to Sweden to study improvisational music at the Music University of Gothenburg, Högskolan för scen och musik. Prior to her solo work, Naoko was known for leading the Naoko Sakata Trio, which she formed during her studies in 2009. The trio released three albums: Kaleidoscope (2010), Flower Clouds (2013), and Dreaming Tree (2016), performing at prominent festivals across Europe, Japan, and beyond. The trio disbanded in 2017.
Her solo career began in 2018, where she focused exclusively on fully improvised solo piano performances. Naoko’s solo albums have been celebrated for their ethereal and boundary-pushing soundscapes. Her debut solo album, Inner Planets (2020), was followed by Dancing Spirits (2021) and Infinity (2023), the latter of which was named one of the top ten contemporary albums of 2023 by The Guardian. Her music has gained attention internationally, with airplay on BBC Radio by prominent hosts like Mary Anne Hobbs and Iggy Pop.
Celebrated on stages across the globe, she has performed at renowned jazz festivals worldwide and received prestigious awards that honor her singular voice in contemporary music, among these are: the Alice Babs award, Stena Stiftelsen culture award, SKAP-Swedish composers and authors award and Swedish National Radio prize "jazzkatten" etc.
-Pianist Sakata plays with a striking fierceness and energy- John Lewis, The Guardian
- Naoko Sakata makes music that touches the sublime- Lorna Irvine, SNACK Magazine
- Experimental piano incantations. Instinctive, feminine and absolutely wild - Mary Anne Hobbs BBC 6 Music