HfMT alumnus becomes assistant conductor to Kent Nagano

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Kenichiro Kojima, who completed his piano studies at the HfMT in the class of Prof. Stepan Simonian, has been selected as assistant conductor to General Music Director Kent Nagano at the Hamburg State Opera. Kenichiro Kojima has just been invited by Markus Poschner, Principal Conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, to conduct Bruckner's 6th Symphony. He was also a finalist in the conducting competition at the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester.

Vita

In 2023, Kenichiro Kojima made his conducting debut at the Malmö Opera with Mozart's "Don Giovanni", where he also accompanied the recitatives on the historical fortepiano. In 2022-2023 he was assistant to music director Roland Kluttig at Graz Opera, and in 2021-2023 he was the resident conductor of the Graz Wind Symphony Orchestra.

Kenichiro Kojima's path to becoming a conductor began in 2015 as a result of a personal crisis - he was diagnosed with focal dystonia and lost the function of his right hand. In the time that followed, his dedicated spirit came to the fore: he has made a name for himself as a conductor with a focus on symphonic repertoire and music theater, as well as rehearsing concert programs for the left hand and winning competitions with them: 3rd Prize and the Marta Argerich Jury Prize at the Vigo International Piano Competition, 1st Prize and the Ivo Pogorelich Prize at the Manhattan International Competition in New York. He also won the Grand Prix "Crown of Stars" and the Grand Prix "Crown of Stars" Best Video at the Music and Star Awards for his artist portrait "LEFT HAND", which he released with filmmaker Konrad Buschke in 2019. His debut CD "Left Hand" was released by KNS Classical in 2024. Ultimately, these past experiences have given him the ability and strong spirit to never run away from difficulties, but to overcome them.

Born in Tokyo in 1991, his musical career initially began at the piano: after graduating from high school in Japan, he moved to Germany in March 2011 and began studying piano with Prof. Stepan Simonian at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama to become a concert pianist. In 2020, he completed his bachelor's and master's degree with distinction. From 2014 to 2018, he was also one of the few students at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in the class of pianist Prof. Eliso Virsaladze. From 2019, he studied orchestral conducting and music theater accompaniment with Prof. Marc Piollet, Prof. Wolfgang Wengenroth and Prof. Roland Kluttig at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where he passed his bachelor's degree with distinction in June 2022. During his studies in Graz, he conducted "Suor Angelica", "Mr. Emmet takes a walk" (Peter Maxwell Davies), "Die Zauberflöte", "Der Schauspieldirektor" and "Die schöne Galathée" (Suppè) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. He attended master classes with Peter Eötvös, Bertrand de Billy, Martin Sieghart, Alexander Soddy, Markus Poschner and Tetsuro Ban.

Kenichiro Kojima has taken part in numerous opera productions and gained experience as a conductor and accompanist at the Hamburg and Hanover State Operas, the Graz Opera and the Malmö Opera. He has conducted the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the PPCM Ensemble of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, the Danubia Orchestra Budapest, the Savaria Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Osaka Symphony Orchestra.

He also has a great passion for contemporary music and has already premiered numerous new compositions. In October 2022, for example, he conducted the successful Hungarian premiere of Unsuk Chin's "Fantasiy Mécanique" with the Danubia Orchestra in Budapest. In January 2023, he worked on the production of Peter Eötvös' opera "The Golden Dragon" together with Klangforum Wien at the Theater an der Wien and conducted the orchestra rehearsals.