Semifinal Round Recital
June 8, 2022
Bass Performance Hall

MASAYA KAMEI
Japan | Age 20

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”)
LISZT Paganini Etude No. 3 “La campanella”
RAVEL Gaspard de la nuit
BALAKIREV Islamey: Oriental Fantasy

A native of Aichi, Japan, Masaya Kamei—at the age of 20—has achieved major piano accolades in his home country. He was the first to be accepted to the Toho Gakuen College Music Department a year early (in 2019). At the same time, he was the first to win both of Japan’s largest national competitions, the Music Competition of Japan Piano Division and the PTNA Piano Competition Special Grade, in a single year. Other awards include the Masuzawa, Nomura, Iguchi, Kawai, Miyake, and Steinway Prizes; the Argerich Arts Promotion Foundation Award; and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award.

Those early wins not only provided many invitations for engagements—they also changed the young artist’s performance perspective: “I realized that I would now be playing the piano as the champion of Japan’s largest competition. A new kind of professionalism sprouted in my heart that has always exceeded expectations.”

His vigorous concert schedule the past few years includes recitals and concertos at major halls in Japan, such as Suntory Hall, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, and Tokyo Metropolitan Theater; and with the Tokyo City Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Chiba Symphony, and 21st Century Tokyo Orchestras.

In 2021, Masaya was selected as a scholarship student of the Rohm Music and Ezoe Memorial Recruit Foundations. He is currently a fourth-year student at Toho Gakuen, under the guidance of Hisako Ueno, Michiko Okamoto, and Shoichi Hase. He recently placed third at the 2022 Maria Canals International Music Competition.

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