Profile
Akira Wakabayashi
Akira Wakabayashi
His skill is beyond ordinary people, and his expressiveness rivals that of an orchestra.
Soaring around the world, representing Japan
Virtuoso pianist.
![](https://wakabayashi-akira.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/profilr.jpg)
As of October 2023
At the age of 20, he won 2nd place at the 37th Busoni International Piano Competition, and at 22, he won 2nd place at the Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition, which brought him into the limelight.Since then, he has been busy performing, co-starring with many orchestras both in Japan and abroad, and giving solo recitals both in Japan and abroad, and continues to be active at the forefront to this day.
Studied with Hiroshi Tamura at Tokyo University of the Arts, Mozarteum Conservatory Salzburg, and Hans Reigraf at Berlin University of the Arts.
Received the 3rd Idemitsu Music Award, the 10th Mobile Music Award Encouragement Award, and the 6th Hotel Okura Award.
In 2002, she made a spectacular recital debut at New York's Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall), and has been featured in the ``Music Toronto Chamber Music Series'' in Toronto, Canada and the ``Myra Hess Recital Series'' in Chicago. In addition to being invited back to the festival with great success, she has also appeared at the music festival ``La Folle Journée'' in Nantes, France, and the ``Amorina Recital Series'' in Stockholm.
In addition, he is steadily expanding his activities, including master classes at the Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and Music Alp in Tignes, France.
Orchestras that have performed with us include major domestic orchestras such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Limburg Symphony Orchestra, and Padreux Orchestra. There are also many prestigious orchestras from overseas, such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated with many famous conductors such as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Gerd Albrecht, Alexander Lazarev, Daniel Harding, Osmo Vanska, Vladimir Spivakov, Gerhard Bosse, and Helmut Henchen.
In the field of chamber music, he has performed with many masters at home and abroad, including the Carmina String Quartet, Leipzig String Quartet, Vienna Octet, Corea Blacher, Stephen Isserlis, Karl Leister, François Leroux, and Radek Baborak. It has been well received. In recent years, he has also formed a duo with violinist Rieko Suzuki, and his deep musicality, which approaches the essence of his works, has been highly acclaimed around the world.
As for recording, he has released numerous solo albums so far. Since 2013, his works have been released one after another, including "Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2, Prelude", "Beethoven: Three Great Piano Sonatas", "Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (piano solo version, world first recording)", ``Liszt: Piano Works'', ``Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 (live with the Japan Philharmonic conducted by Lazarev)'', and ``Chopin: The Complete Works of Etudes'' are all included in the Record Geijutsu Special Edition and continue to receive extremely high praise. There is.
In the 2018 release of ``Chopin: Complete Etudes'', Record Geijutsu stated, ``This is a masterpiece that deserves the description of super-dreadnought and is so rare that you hear it...A masterpiece in which the poet Chopin's smile shines beyond the difficult technique...This is a masterpiece... ``I've been waiting for you'' (recommended by Shigero Hamada), ``The presence of each note, the impenetrable technique and sophisticated musicality...the unique music resonates.It's a masterpiece with a balance of intelligence and spirit. ” (recommended by Tsutomu Nasuda).
In addition, the CDs released since 2014 by the duo with Rieko Suzuki are "Schubertiana", "Mozart: Violin Sonata Collection Vol. 1", "Respighi & Franck: Violin Sonatas" (all of which were selected as Recording Arts semi-specialists). ) and ``Mozart: Violin Sonatas Vol. 2 and Vol. 3'' (both Record Geijutsu special selections) have always received high praise.
As for recitals, he performed solo recitals at Suntory Hall (large hall) in 2014 and 2016, which were highly successful and were described as ``an unparalleled high-level performance'' and ``a spectacular recital.'' In November 2020, he held a solo recital at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater Concert Hall for the first time in four years, and said, ``It's not ``What more do you want'' that was on the CD of Pollini's Chopin Etude, but it is a song about Wakabayashi's technique. "That's true. I was impressed," said Hiroko Ueda of Music Friends.
In addition, he completed his third ``Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonata Series'' in 2017, and ``Chopin: Complete Piano Works Series'' from 2018 to 2022, including the quintet version of the piano concerto and cello. It has been held for a total of 15 times, including works by the author, and has received high praise and support. His recital, which included all 12 pieces of ``Etude Op.
He has been holding a recital series at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater since 2023.