Kenichiro Kojima
Nationality: Japan
Age: 31
Stage: Semifinal
Repertoire:
STAGE ONE - SELECTION: Felix Blumenfeld : Etude for the left hand alone, in A-flat major, Op.36; Bela Bartok : Etude for the left hand alone, in B-flat major; Alexander Scriabin : Nocturne for left hand alone, Op.9 Nr.2; Erwin Schulhoff : The 3rd Suite (for Piano left Hand)
STAGE TWO - SEMIFINAL: Bach, Partita for Violin Solo No. 2 in D minor, BWV1004 (transcription for the left hand alone by Kenichiro Kojima); Brahms, Study No. 5 (for left hand alone) after Bach's Chaconne, BWV 1016
Kenichiro Kojima has won a number of national and international competitions. In 2020 Marta Argerich gave Kenichiro Kojima special mentions at the Vigo International Piano Competition in Spain and Ivo Pogorelich gave him the Ivo Pogorelich prize at the 5th Manhattan International Music Competition. In 2021 he won the 1st prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of contemporary music at the Clavis Piano Festival in Füssen, Germany. In May 2021 he played the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand by Maurice Ravel with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama at the Spring Green Music Festival in Kanazawa.
He won the 3 prize at the Pianale Piano Academy in 2012 in Fulda, Germany and the 3rd prize at the Elise-Meyer Competition in Hamburg in 2013. He was a semifinalist and the recipient of the audience prize at the Sendai International Music Competition in Japan in 2013.
In 2015 Kenichiro Kojima saw a personal crisis, in which he was diagnosed with focal dystonia and lost the function of his right hand.
Despite a set-back Kenichiro Kojima has remained active and competed with repertoires for the left hand alone successfully in several competitions, earning him the 1st prize at the ICoM Piano Award in 2017 in Hamburg, Germany, the 3rd prize at the Vigo International Piano Competition in 2018 in Spain, the 1st prize with two special prizes at the Livorno International Piano Competition in 2019 in Italy, the silver medal at the Berlin International Music Competition in Germany, and the First Great Award at the 4th Manhattan International Music Competition in the USA, among others.
Kenichiro Kojima’s success at the 4th Manhattan International Music Competition in New York has earned him management with Manhattan Concerts Artists and he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in July 2019. He also gave a solo recital at the International Music Festival Puplinge Classique. He has performed as a guest artist at important festivals and concert venues throughout Europe and Japan, including the Hamburger Klang Werk in Germany, International Music Festival Puplinge Classique and Les Renconters Musicales de Champery in Switzerland, the Laieszhalle (Musikhalle Hamburg) and the Kampnagel in Hamburg, the Gasteig in Munich, the Duke’s Hall of the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, the Kaunas State Philharmonic Hall in Lithuania, the Suntory Hall, the Opera City in Tokyo, and Spring Green Music Festival in Kanazawa, among others.
He has appeared as a soloist with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra under Pascal Verrot, the Seto Philharmonic Orchestra under Kazufumi Yamashita, the Tokyo International Association of Artists Orchestra under Yukio Kusakawa, the Ensemble Volumia Consort, the Orchestre des Jeunes de la Suisse Romande, and the Orchestra Filharmonica Mihail Jara di Bacau under Ovidiu Bala.
