Professor at Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg
Voice
Born in Japan, Marie Kobayashi began studying piano and singing at a young age. She studied music at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where she gets her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
She settled permanently in Paris and entered the CNSM in Paris, studying under Régine Crespin, Michel Roux, and William Christie. She received the Lyric Art Prize and the Early Vocal Music Performance Prize.
Since 1993, she has been awarded a Doctor of Arts from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music for her graduate thesis: “The Melodies of Olivier Messiaen – Around Harawi.”.
She is the winner of several International Prizes: Fauré Prize at the International Competition for the Interpretation of French Melodies in Paris, Honorary Diploma at the Maria Canals International Competition in Barcelona, Grand Prix Gabriel Dussurget in homage to Rita Streich at the International Oratorio and Lied Competition in Clermont-Ferrand.
His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music; Rustena in “La Verita in Cimento” by Vivaldi (dir. Jean-Christophe SPINOSI), Mass in C major by Mozart, Suzuki in “Madame Butterfly” by Puccini, Shéhérazade by Ravel (dir. Daniel KAWKA), Symphony No.2 Resurrection by Mahler (dir. Yutaka SADO), Le Marteau sans Maître by Boulez with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Meridian by H. Birtwistle (dir. Pierre BOULEZ), Noces de Stravinsky (dir. Philippe HERREWEGHE), Andere Schatten by W. Rihm (dir. David ROBERTSON), Kunstgewerblerin in “Lulu” by Berg (dir. Jeffrey TATE), Folk songs by Berio, Stabat Mater by Piotr Moss (dir. Mstislav ROSTROPOVITCH), Studi per l’intonazione del mare de S.Sciarrino…..
She has performed at International Festivals: Prague Spring, Romaeuropa Festival, Melbourne Festival, Holland Festival (cond. David Porcelijn), Agora Festival, Barossa Music Festival, Tokyo Summer’s Festival, Manca Festival, Saint-Denis Festival, Novosibirsk Christmas Festival (with Quatuor Filarmonica), Organ Festival in Szczecin and Kamień Pomorsk, Classical Festival in the Green…
Among his numerous recordings, notably for Radio-France and Radio-Brussels, we can cite the discs “Chants folklores du monde”, “Requiem” by Mozart, “Mélodies” by M. Rosenthal, “Japanese Love Songs (with Claude Delangle on saxophone)”, “Harawi” by O. Messiaen and the film “Microcosmos”…
Since 2004, she has been a singing professor at the Strasbourg Regional National Conservatory (Pôle Supérieur). She gives masterclasses at the 5th arrondissement Conservatory in Paris, the International Academy of Nice, and in Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and Greece.
In 2025, she sang at the Moniuszko Festival in Poland and premiered François Fyte’s opera based on Yukio Mishima’s play in Tokyo.