Yukio Yokoyama, Piano ‘The Tour Great Piano Concertos’

Yukio Yokoyama was born in Tokyo in 1971. Already as a child he played pieces of his own composition and performed with orchestras both in Japan and abroad. At that time he received advice from such personalities as Karajan and Rostropovich. Yukio Yokoyama is a pianist with a classic sensibility. His characteristic expressive depth is born of a beautiful and refined style, and his playing combines a rich sense of color with meticulous organizational skills. At the age of 19 he realized the impressive achievement of becoming the youngest-ever Japanese entrant to become the econd finalist in the Chopin International Piano Competition of 1990. Since then he has continued to pursue a path uniquely his own and achieve brilliant results as a leading musical artist of popularity and formidable talent. At the age of 12 he started studying piano under Jun Date and composition under Masayuki Nagatomi. In 1984, he won the first prize in the piano division of the All Japan Student Music Concours sponsored by the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun. He entered the high school associated to the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music in 1986, and in the following year went to study at Conservatoire national superieur de musique de Paris with a scholarship from the French Government. There, he studied under Jacques Rouvier, Vlado Perlmuter and others. In 1989 he won prizes at the Busconi International Concours and the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibeaud Concours. In 1990 he graduated from the Paris Conservatoire with grants of Premiere Prix in piano and chamber music and the same year won third prize(no first prize was allocated this year) from the Chopin International Piano Competition and also the Sonata prize. With this success, Yokoyama then officially began his concert activities, including recitals and performances with orchestras in cities all around the world, in addition to chamber music and radio broadcast performances. In 1991, Yokoyama released his first two CDs, of Chopin piano concerto No. 1, and Piano Sonata Nos. 2 and 3, on Sony records. He was awarded the Cziffra Foundation Award in Paris in the same year. In 1992 Yokoyama received the 18th Japan Chopin Association Award. The same year he began a 7 year project to perform the complete works of Chopin. In April 1994, Yokoyama’s fourth CD, of works by Debussy and Ravel, was released, to high critical acclaim. In November 1995 his fifth CD, Beethoven’s works, was released. His activities in 1996 include an astonishingly successful Austrian debut with the Wiener Kammerorchester in the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft and the Brucknerhaus in Linz, performing Mozart’s K. 271. His debut in Germany followed, with subscription concerts with the Berliner Sinfonie Orchester under Michael Schoenwandt in the Berliner Konzerthaus, performing Beethoven’s piano concerto No. 5. Then he released his sixth album, Chopin: Fantaise – Impromptu. He also published the score of Chopin’s Fantaise – Impromptu, especially edited by himself. This year he toured Japan with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Temirkanov and Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer later this year, both highly acclaimed by the audience and critiques. In 1997 Maestro Neeme Jarvi reinvited Yokoyama this time to perform with his Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and they toured in Japan with great success. The live recording of their concert is now released by Sony. He also toured with concertmaster of Vienna Philharmonic, Daniel Gaede this year, with much success. Mr. Gaede continues now to perform with him worldwide.His CD release of more Chopin works, the Nocturnes, also followed this year. Following in 1998, he performed all complete solo works of Beethoven including the 32 Sonatas, Variations and Bagatelles in a mere 10 months period in a series from the invitation of Saitama Prefectural Arts Center. He also participated in several International Music Festivals this year including the Prague Spring Festival, the Janacek May Festival, both in Czech Republic, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, and the Festival Semaines Musicales en Touraine in France. He also made a debut recital at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie this fall which was praised well for a newcomer. His new CD, Liszt’s Etudes of Transcendental Techniques was also released by Sony in fall in Japan, which was produced by Grammy nominated producer, Wolf Erichson. In 1999, this Liszt CD won the twenty-fifth International Liszt Grand Prix for a new recording. This award is unique in that the 10 judges listen to the CDs with the names of all performers covered up, insuring that judgement is based only on the recordings themselves. Some past winners of the award include such renowned pianists as Horowitz, Richter, Pollini among others. He also won the Shinnitetsu Music Award this year granted to promising young musicians. He then released more Chopin works in the memory of the Chopin’s 150th year after his death. Later this year, he overwhelmed a full house by performing three Rakhmaninov Piano Concerts in one night in Tokyo. In 2000, the live recordings of his Beethoven concerts of 1998 were released by Sony. This highly praised Beethoven set includes not only the 32 Sonatas, but all the major piano works such as the Bagatels and all the Variations within 12 CDs, each disk containing performances of each concert. This brilliant CD set of Beethoven was acknowledged as dramatically outstanding and was awarded by the Agency of Cultural Affairs. He has also won the Mobil Music Prize this year granted to promising young artists of Japan. In 2001, he made his successful recital debut as well as concerto debut in St. Petersburg with the St. Petersburg Philharmony under Nikolai Alexeev. He composes his own music for piano and other instruments. A CD with all of his recent piano works was released by Sony in the fall of 2002 accompanied by a publication of the music by Yamaha Music Media. Throughout the years 2002 – 2004, he recorded all the Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Japan Chamber Orchestra. This chamber orchestra is very special as it is composed by the top members of the Japanese Orchestras and they engage no conductors. The CD packet released in Spring 2005, attracted much attention of the mass media. During the years of 2005 – 2006, Yokoyama performed together with Berlin Symphony Orchestra ‘Emperor Concerto’ under the baton of Eriaf Inbal. He also performed Liszt 1st piano concerto with the NHK symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jun Merkl. He has accomplished the marathon concert of all 5 Beethoven piano concertos with the Japan Chamber Orchestra performed in one night. With much success, he performed together with the London Symphony under the baton of Myung-Whon Chung. He regularly appears as chamber musician at the Miyazaki International Music Festival. In 2007 summer, he performed Beethoven’s five sonatas in one night at Tokyo Opera City winning loud applause. Yokoyama’s newest CD, Bach: Goldberg Variations was released in February this year and met with high critical acclaim everywhere. Currently Professor at Ueno Gakuen, and Adjunct Professor at Elisabeth University of Music, Yokoyama is also devoted to educating young musicians. He is currently carrying out series of concerts of Chopin, the composer whose two hundredth anniversary of birth is being celebrated in 2010, in various cities of Japan. In 2010, he played in one concert, 166 solo works of Chopin, including all of the published pieces plus the major posthumous works mostly in written order. The Guinness Book of World Records granted him the World Record in the category ‘Most pieces of music performed by a solo artist in 24 hours’ In recognition of this achievement, the government of Poland awarded him with the ‘Chopin Passport,’ presented to 100 artists worldwide who carried out especially remarkable activities related to the works of Chopin in the year of the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth. In 2011, the 20th anniversary of Yokoyama’s debut, he performed all 212 solo works by Chopin at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall taking 18 hours in a day as a charity concert for “Tohoku region pacific coast earthquake 3.11” His achievement was officially recognized again in the Guinness Book of World Records. This concert was restaged in International Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland, and the entire fund raised from this concert was donated to Red Cross for Japan earthquake 3.11 by his ownwill.

In September 2001, at the age of 31, Tatsuya Shimono achieved international recognition when he was awarded First Prize at the 47th Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors, confirming his reputation both in and outside of Japan. Prior to this, he had already won the First Prize and the Hideo Saito Award at the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting.
After graduating from the Kagoshima University Faculty of Education (Music), he furthered his artistic development at the Toho Gakuen School of Music Conducting Seminar and in master classes with Myung-Whung Chung and Yuri Temirkanov at the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy (1996), where he received the Diploma presented to the seminar’s most outstanding student.
Returning to Japan in 1997, Tatsuya Shimono served as Assistant Conductor at the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, working with conductors such as Takashi Asahina,Hiroshi Wakasugi and Jean Fournet. Two years later, on a scholarship from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, he moved to Europe to complete his studies at the Vienna Musikhochschule.
Once more in Japan, he quickly became a regular guest conductor with all the major Japanese orchestra. His opera debut in March 2005, conducting The Magical Flute at the New National Theatre Tokyo, received critical acclaim predicting a brilliant future as an opera conductor. Today, the remarkable collaboration he has with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra as its Resident Conductor, a specially-created post, has continued to capture the attention of both press and public since their first concert in November 2006, when they performed Mozart and Corigliano. In August 2008, he made his debut at the Saito Kinen Festival at the invitation of Seiji Ozawa. And this relation with Seiji Ozawa lead his return to Saito Kinen Festival already in 2010 as resident conductor of the festival, conducting six performances of the Concert for Children, the Welcome Parade and Joint Performances; and in being entrusted the podium by Seiji Ozawa in the four orchestral concerts on his beharl. Following on this he joined the festival in its trip to Carnegie Hall, making his U.S. debut conducting half of two of the concerts.
In 2011 Tatsuya has appointed as the Music Director to Hiroshima Wind Orchestra that shows his great interest also in this genre.
Tatsuya’s exceptional charisma and musicality lead him also in international music scene rapidly and its early stage ,he has guest conducted at major orchestras such as Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg,Orchestre National de Bordeaux,Orchestre de Cannes PACA,Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi,Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia,Czech Philharmonic Orchestra,Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra(SWR) and most recently at Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz with immediate return invitation for 2013.
Tatsuya’s deep commitment to musical communication means he commits himself to many educational activities including master-classes at the prestigious Affinis Music Festival and a professorship at the Ueno Gakuen University, where the sincerity of his approach to music, his discipline along with his humour and insatiable appetite for contemporary music make him a sought-after mentor.
For his outstanding musical activities Tatsuya Shimono is the recipient of many accolades including the Idemitsu and Akeo Watanabe Music awards, Nippon Steel Music Award and Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award.
(August 2011)