Praised for her "impeccable technique and sense of crystalline sound" (American Record Guide), "her natural ease and fine sense of drama" (BBC Music Magazine), "her deliciously sparkling touch" (Classical-Music), and "her crisp, pointed, and sensual playing" (San Francisco Chronicle), Momo Kodama has built an impressive career performing with world-renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic. She has also performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian State Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, Eliahu Inbal, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano, Roger Norrington, Lawrence Foster, and André Previn. She has performed at the Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam, and Wigmore Hall in London. She is a regular guest at festivals including Marlboro, Verbier, La Roque d'Anthéron, Festival Chopin, Festival d'Automne, Festival Saint-Denis, Enesco Festival, Tivoli Festival, Settembre Musica, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Miyazaki and Matsumoto (Seiji Ozawa).
Momo Kodama enjoys performing chamber music with partners such as Christian Tetzlaff, Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, Gautier Capuçon, Steven Isserlis and Jörg Widmann. She also conceived and performed a program commemorating the 100th anniversary of Claude Debussy's death with actor Pascal Rénéric and baritone Josep-Ramon Olivé at La Bellevilloise in Paris, which was repeated in France and China. Their repertoire ranges from classical and romantic to contemporary works. Composers such as Toshio Hosokawa, Jörg Widmann and Christian Mason have written especially for her. Momo Kodama is considered an outstanding interpreter of the work of Olivier Messiaen (including the Turangalîla Symphony, the Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus, the Catalogue d'Oiseaux) and premiered his Fantaisie for violin and piano with Isabelle Faust in 2006.
Her most recent recording for ECM, released in spring 2021, features concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Toshio Hosokawa with the Mito Chamber Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa. Previously, her CDs "La vallée des cloches" and "Point and Line - Hosokawa/Debussy Etudes" were also released by ECM, receiving excellent reviews from the New York Times, BBC Music Magazine (Recording of the Month) and Classica ("Choc"). In addition, Momo Kodama, together with her sister Mari, has recorded two CDs for Pentatone with works by Tchaikovsky and Martinů, and four CDs for Triton with works by Chopin, Debussy and Messiaen.
Momo Kodama was born in Osaka, Japan, and spent her early years in Europe: she was educated at a German school and attended the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. She continued her studies with Murray Perahia, András Schiff, Vera Gornostaeva and Tatiana Nikolayeva. In 1991 she became the youngest prize winner of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.
Momo Kodama lives in Karlsruhe and in Paris. In her free time she enjoys cooking, especially for and with friends and family.