Michiaki Ueno's eloquent performance and charisma spellbind audiences. He has been praised for his unique yet natural musicality and superlative technique.

Born in Paraguay in 1995, Michiaki started his cello studies at the age of five. At the age of eleven, he gave his first concerto performance at the prestigious Suntory Hall, playing the Lalo Cello Concerto. This later led to his success in becoming the first ever Japanese winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 2009. A year later, he won first prize in the Romanian International Music Competition along with special prizes. He won first prize in the International Johannes Brahms Competition in 2014. His most recent award was first prize in the Geneva International Music Competition in 2021 along with three special awards, including the Young Audience Prize.

Michiaki has participated in a number of music festivals and seminars, including the Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, Verbier Festival, International Music Festival Nippon, Takefu International Music Festival, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, and Kronberg Academy. He has received masterclasses from Steven Isserlis, Frans Helmerson, Ivan Monighetti, Miklós Perényi, and Jian Wang among many other great maestros.

As a soloist, Michiaki has performed with numerous orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and New Japan Philharmonic among many others.

He has received musical education from the late Shoichi Baba, Iñaki Etxepare, and Hakuro Mohri. He is currently studying with Pieter Wispelwey at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, Gary Hoffman, and Jeroen Reuling at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.

Michiaki plays a P.A. Testore cello on loan from the Munetsugu Collection.

This is his first appearance at PMF.

Appearing on: