Success for HfMT students

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Kenichiro Kojima, a master's student in Prof. Stepan Simonian's class, won first prize and two special prizes at the renowned International Piano Competition in Livorno (Italy).

In the competition held from 23 to 26 January, Kenichiro Kojimna won over the jury with a program exclusively for the left hand and prevailed against 44 competitors. He will make his debut with a solo program in Milan in May 2019.

Vita
Kenichiro Kojima was born in Tokyo in 1991 and received his first piano lessons at the age of 5. In 2007, he performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Tokyo International Association of Artists Orchestra. He has already won several prizes and attended various master classes with pianists such as Akiko Ebi, Markus Groh, Jerzy Sulikowski, Joaquin Soriano, Grigory Gruzman, Pavel Nersessian and Matti Raekallio. He has gained concert experience in solo concerts and with the orchestra in Japan, Poland, Switzerland and Germany. In 2012 he performed as pianist of the ensemble Volumina Consort at the festival for modern music 'Hamburger Klang Werk Tage'. He also played on the historical instrument (Concert Grand Piano Steinway&Sons New York, 1871) in the project 'Piano Music by Brahms' at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. In the same year, he was awarded 3rd prize at the PIANALE Piano Academy and the special prize of the Landesmusikakademie Hessen for a concert in the series of Academy Concerts by Young Artists. In 2013, he won 3rd prize at the Elise Meyer Competition and played the first piano concerto at the semi-final of the 5th Sendai International Music Competition with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, winning the audience prize. This was followed in 2014 by performances at major international festivals in Switzerland such as Pulinge Classique and Les Rencontres Musicales de Champery, where he played J.S. Bach's 1st Piano Concerto with Orchestre des Jeunes la Suisse Romande. In 2017 he won the 1st prize at the ICoM Piano Award in Hamburg and he won the 3rd prize at the CONCURSO INTERNACIONAL DE PIANO "CIUDAD DE VIGO". Kenichiro Kojima studies with Prof. Stepan Simonian at the University of Music and Drama in Hamburg and Prof. Eliso Virsaladze at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy. Since 2016 he has been gaining experience as a musical assistant in various opera productions and in 2018 he appeared as a conductor with Symphoniker Hamburg.