Imma Setiadi was born in Surabaya, Indonesia. A fascination for the piano at her home led to lessons with local teachers who suggested a more serious training. She received her early musical training most notably from So Kim Wie, Fefe Thessa, Amanda Soebadi, Oddy Hindrawan and Anna Sulastri. At the age of fifteen, she was invited to perform one of her own compositions in UNICEF-YAMAHA Junior Original Concert in Hong Kong.
She then received her Bachelor of Music degree (first class honours) from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore with Albert Tiu and a Distinction in her Master of Music degree where she studied with Nigel Clayton at the Royal College of Music, London. In 2017 she completed her Doctoral degree from the RCM, studying with Nigel Clayton and Amanda Glauert where she explored her interest in cross-arts practice and concert experience as a pianist. This performance-research project, which she hoped also to make classical music more accessible to more people, has been featured at the RCM Great Exhibitionist Series, Trinity Laban Music and Arts Festival, the Deal Festival, RNCM HARP Conference and The Reflective Conservatoire Conference. She is truly grateful for the support of RCM Study Award, Indonesian Beasiswa Unggulan, the Seary Charitable Trust, Talent Unlimited Charity, Anonymous, and PAL charity.
Whilst in the UK, she has performed as soloist and chamber musician at the Bridgewater Hall, the Purcell Room, Steinway Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Turner Contemporary, The Red-House (the house of Britten-Pears), the Royal Academy of Arts, Holywell Music Room (Oxford), the National Gallery, Blackheath Halls, West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge and Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, and as orchestral pianist at The Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Royal Festival Hall. In 2013, with the Pacific Trio (violin, clarinet, and piano), she commissioned and premiered the London Tales project which was most enthusiastically received at St. Martin-in-the-fields. Her recent saxophone/piano duo performance (Duo Fantasia) at the Sugrizimai Festival in Vilnius was broadcasted by the Lithuanian National Radio.
Her playing was further encouraged by prizes at the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Concerto Competition, the National Piano and Violin Competition in Singapore, RCM Beethoven Kendall Taylor Prize, RCM Piano Chamber Music Competition, and Eastbourne Young Soloist Competition. Her concerto engagements have included Shostakovich Piano Concerto Nos. 1 and 2, Schumann Concerto, Poulenc Aubade, Finzi Eclogue, Carmichael Concerto for piano duet, Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos K. 365 and Beethoven Emperor Concerto (at St. Martin-in-the Fields).
In masterclasses, she has worked with Michel Beroff, Angela Hewitt, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Pascal Godart, Ulrich Koella, Pascal Roge, Sir Thomas Allen and Malcolm Martineau. She has been engaged as a piano accompanist for masterclasses by world renown instrumentalists such as Ole Kristian-Dahl (bassoon), Raphael Wallfisch (cello), Maximiliano Martin (clarinet), Fanny Clamagirand (violin), Fiona Bonds (viola), James Galway (flute), Nicholas Thompson (Trumpet) and Jacques Tys (oboe).
She has been selected as one of young artists for the Park Lane Group, Manchester Mid-Day Concerts Society and Leeds Lieder Festival. She held the post of Junior Fellow in Piano Accompaniment at the RCM (Gilbert and Eileen Edgar, 2015/2016) and at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (2016-2018). She works as an accompanist and teaches aural skills at the RCM. Enthusiastic about nurturing younger musicians, she teaches at Junior Trinity Laban, Whitgift School and Loughborough Schools Foundation (an all-Steinway Music Department). She is also a Leverhulme/Pro Corda Fellow in Chamber Music and was a member of LPO Foyle Future Firsts 2018-2019. In 2021 she is also being supported by the Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Fund in association with Harriet’s Trust.