Organ and Vocal Concert – “Goodness Gracious, Mendelssohn!” –

Kaori SAKAI was born in Sendai, Japan, and began playing the piano at
the age of 3. She then studied organ in Kinue Aota’s class at
Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University in Japan from 2003 to 2009.
During her studies, she gave regular concerts and participated
in master classes with Lorenzo Ghielmi and Zigmond Szathmary.
Kaori came to France to further her studies with Michel Bouvard
(organ), Jan Willem Jansen (organ and harpsichord), and Yasuko Bouvard
(fortepiano) at the Toulouse Regional Conservatory.
She earned her DEM in organ with high honors in June 2011 and her
DEM in harpsichord with high honors and a unanimous decision by the jury in 2014.
In 2015, she graduated from the Institut Supérieur des Arts de Toulouse with a
National Higher Professional Diploma in Music.
In 2016, she was appointed titular organist of the GIROUD Bacot organ at the
Saint Laurent in Bourg d’Oisans, and she has been teaching organ at the
Oisans Intermunicipal School since 2015. She also organizes
concerts for the Association des Amis de l’Orgue en Oisans.
In September 2022, she was appointed organ professor at the
Les Deux Muses Conservatory in Melun.

Soprano Ombline Kaufmann began her opera training in 2012 in Colette Hochain’s class at the Conservatory of the 15th Arrondissement and earned her Diploma in Musical Studies from the CRR in Paris in June 2018. The following October, she won first prize at the Georges Enesco International Singing Competition and, on that occasion, founded the Ambroisie duo with pianist Sarah Müller-Moaty, with whom she has staged, among other projects, a concert featuring the lieder of Clara and Robert Schumann. In addition to recitals, Ombline Kaufmann also performs in oratorios and operas. In 2021, she will play the Baroness in the Oya Kephale troupe’s production of *La Vie Parisienne* (Offenbach).