Tomoki Kitamura was born in Aichi prefecture, Japan. He started piano at age 3. Kitamura won Third Prize at the 6th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (2006), Fifth Prize in addition to three special prizes at the 9th Sydney International Piano Competition (2008), Fifth Prize at the 18th Leeds International Piano Competition (2016), and Second Prize at the International Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn (2017).

In 2005 he won First Prize and the Grand Jury Prize at the 3rd Tokyo Music Competition. In June the same year he presented his first solo recital. Since then, he has appeared as a soloist with several Japanese orchestras such as Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, and with orchestras overseas in Germany, France, the UK, and Poland. He is actively engaged in solo recitals, chamber music and early music concerts in various European cities. His performances have been highly acclaimed by several notable critics and artists; “An incredibly unique talent in capturing time. It is like listening to an orchestra led by a renowned conductor” (Pavel Gililov, pianist); “An artist with incredible poetry and philosophical wisdom” (Jiro Hamada, critic). In September 2020 at “B→C: from Bach to Contemporary” presented by Tokyo Opera City, he skillfully performed on four different keyboard instruments in diverse repertoires including Cage – this performance was noted by critic and academic Seiko Ito as “a critical historical event in our country’s history of piano performance.”
In 2019 Kitamura started to produce his own recital projects entitled “Real-time.”

Kitamura’s recordings include “Fantasie: Schumann,” “Nachtbilder,” “In der Dämmerung: Brahms, Listz, Berg,” “Bagatellen,” and “Cage Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano” released by Fontec, and have been highly appraised by critics.

Kitamura graduated from the Music Department of Meiwa High School (Aichi) and pursued his studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2011 he enrolled in the Univesität der Künste Berlin where he graduated with honors in 2018. He has studied with Kei Itoh, Ewa Pobłocka, and Rainer Becker. Since 2017 he is researching traditional performance methods with Jesper Christensen at the Frankfurt University for Music and Performing Arts.
(http://tomoki-kitamura.com)

This is his first appearance at PMF.

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