Event Type : Concerts

The first event of POLIMIFEST is created in collaboration with PIANO CITY MILANO and features a piano concert by musician Sachiko Nakajima, a jazz pianist, mathematician, and STEAM educator. Her program, titled Japanese Folk Reimagined – Improvised Piano, presents a solo piano performance based on Japanese folk songs and landscapes, reimagined through improvisation and jazz-inspired interpretation.
Rather than fixed arrangements, the music unfolds as a continuous flow, transforming traditional melodies into new sonic landscapes.
Audience-inspired motifs are integrated into the improvisational process, with subtle extensions of sound and resonance.

Program (indicative, evolving through improvisation)

• Flower of Hope (original composition, created after the Great East Japan Earthquake)
• Japanese folk songs (e.g. Kokiriko Bushi, Furusato)
  – reinterpreted through improvisation and jazz elements, incorporating Italian folk nuances in dialogue with Japanese traditions
• Mountain Behind (Urayama no.) (original composition)
  – a landscape-inspired piece unfolding through improvisation
• Improvisation based on audience-inspired motifs

The program is designed as a flexible flow, allowing the music to evolve in response to the space and audience.

Sachiko Nakajima
Musician (jazz pianist), mathematician, and STEAM educator.

She is the CEO of steAm, Inc., Representative Director of the steAmBAND Association, and Thematic Project Producer for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

She also serves as a STEM Girls Ambassador for the Cabinet Office of Japan, a Project Researcher at the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences at The University of Tokyo, and a Specially Appointed Professor at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature.
Nakajima was the first Japanese woman to win a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad. She was also awarded the Power of Radiance Awards 2025 (Clé de Peau Beauté /Shiseido) for her contributions to STEAM education for girls.
Her work explores the intersection of music, mathematics, education, and art & technology.
Her pavilion, “Invigorating Lives: Jellyfish Pavilion,” at Expo 2025 Osaka welcomed 2.7 million visitors and achieved a Guinness World Record for the most varieties of live performances for a visual installation at a single event.
As a jazz pianist, she participated in a three-month European tour in 2005.