Kei Koito is widely acclaimed as one of the most exciting performers of our time for Baroque organ music. After having given numerous concerts with the romantic and the avant-garde repertory, including many world premieres, since 1985, she has specialized in Baroque music, notably that of J.S. Bach and his most important predecessors. Her interpretive approach is the result of her tireless research into historical performance practice, musicological field, her extensive investigation of period instruments and her personal intuition and inspiration.

Born into a family of artists, Kei Koito started studying music at the age of six, taking lessons in piano, cello, voice and harpsichord. At the age of twelve, she decided to study the organ, her favorite instrument, in Tokyo, Geneva and Toulouse. Thereafter, she studied Early music with the organist, harpsichordist and musicologist Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini in Fribourg, as well as Baroque music with Baroque violinist and conductor Reinhard Goebel in Cologne. She also studied philosophy and musical aesthetics at Tokyo University of Fine Arts & Music, and attended courses in composition, orchestration and musical analysis from the 16th century to the present day with composer Éric Gaudibert in Geneva.

As part of her career as a recitalist/concert organist, Kei Koito has performed all over Europe, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, South America, Russia, Poland, Czechia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Israel and Japan. She has also collaborated, among others, for Bach’s organ sinfonias/cantatas and Handel's organ concertos with Musica Antiqua Köln (dir. Reinhard Goebel), for the Italian Renaissance, French pre-classical and classical repertoires with Ensemble Gilles Binchois (dir. Dominique Vellard). In addition, she has performed, for example, a Haydn’s organ concerto with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Poulenc's Organ Concerto with Suisse Romande Orchestra.

Her recent albums with VEVO videos for ancient repertory have released on Sony/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label: “Organ Music before Bach”, works by Pachelbel, Froberger, Muffat, Kerll & Fischer, “Baroque Organ Concertos”, works by Haendel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Albinoni & Torelli, “Splendour”, Golden Age of North German Music, also “Back to Bach” album.

Kei Koito pursues her collaboration with Claves Records for a cycle “Bach, Organ Masterworks” played on different outstanding and fascinating historical organs.

Her recordings have consistently received high praise from the press and have been awarded multiple prizes, including several “Diapason d'Or”, “Choc”/Le Monde de la Musique/Classica, “Choix du mois”/France Musique, “Instrumental Choice”/BBC Music Magazine, “Clé”/ResMusica, “ffff - Événement exceptionnel”/Télérama, “10/10”/Répertoire, “5/5”/Early Music Review, “5/5 & Referenz”/Journal für die Orgel, “5/5”/Choir & Organ, as well as “Editor's Choice”/Gramophone, Musik & Theater, Toccata-Alte Musik Aktuell, Record Geijutsu, etc. and have also received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from the general public.

A highly sought-after pedagogue, Kei Koito has been Professor of organ at the Lausanne University of Music/Haute École de Musique/Musikhochschule since 1992. From the very start, her classes have brought together students from all over the world. Since 2012, she has devoted herself entirely to comparative research on the repertoire of Bach, his predecessors, precursors and contemporaries.

She gives lectures and masterclasses as a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, at the Baroque Academy of Gmunden/Salzburg, at the Conservatories of Rouen, Quebec and Buenos Aires, at the University of Belgrade as well as at various American universities. She is also frequently invited to be part of the jury of international organ competitions (Geneva, Maastricht/Liège/Aachen, Wasquehal/Lille/St-Omer, Alkmaar/Schnitger competition, as well as Lausanne/Grand Prix Bach and St Albans/the 50th jubilee year Competition).

Since the creation in 1997 of the Lausanne Bach Festival/Festival Bach/Bachfest, Kei Koito, Founder, has been Artistic Director.