Piano
Born in: Aichi Prefecture, Japan
1st place, and Judges Grand Prize, Piano Section, The 3rd Tokyo Music Competition 2005

Musical Study Experiences

Enrolled in Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2011, entered the Piano Department of Berlin University of the Arts and graduated with honors.
Currently, studies at Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.

Teachers

Previously, studied under ITOH Kei, Ewa POBLOCKA, Rainer BECKER, and Jesper CHRISTENSEN. 

Further Activities

〈Competitions〉
1st Place, Piano Category, Primary School Division, Nagoya Regional at the 57th Student Music Concours of Japan (2003)
5th Place, A Category A (under 16’s) at the 9th Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists (Germany) (2004)
4th Place at the 10th Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition (2005)
1st Place and Grand Jury Prize (All Categories) at the 3rd Tokyo Music Competition (2005)
3rd Place at the 6th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (2006)
At the 9th Sydney International Piano Competition, won 5th Place; Best Schubert performance prize; Best Performance Prize of an Australian work in Stage III, donated by Australasian Performing Right Association; Youngest Finalist Prize (2008)
5th place at the 18th Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (the U.K.) (2015)
2nd place at the 7th International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn (Germany) (2017)

〈Main Performance History〉
In June 2005, Kitamura held his first recital in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture at the Sagawa Library Multipurpose Hall. Since then he has been holding recitals in all over Japan.
His performances with major orchestras in Japan and overseas include subscription concerts of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. He also travels regularly both in and out of Japan including Germany, France, the U.K., Belgium, and Poland for his solo recitals, chamber ensemble concerts, and period instrument performances.
The highlight of his performing carrier is the concert “B to C: From Bach to Contemporary Music” organized by the Tokyo Opera City in September 2020. The state-of-the-art program including Cage's work featured 4 keyboard instruments, which was praised enthusiastically as the critic ITO Seiko commented “It is not too much to say that night became an important moment for our national piano history.”
Since 2019, Kitamura has been holding his recital series “Real-time.”

〈CD〉
“Fantasie” (2011)
“Nachtbilder” (2014)
“in der Dämmerung” (2016)
“Bagatellen” (2019)
“John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano” (2021) *Excellence Award, Recordings Category, the 76th Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA) National Arts Festival

All released from fontec

Repertoire

I have an interest in creating a program in the form of story using various associated pieces from the Baroque, pre-Baroque Period to contemporary. I would like to perform the compositions that resonate with me the most whether they are masterpieces or not.
Recently I have also been performing chamber music and working on arrangements for orchestras.

Return to List of Winners