KEN IISAKA

AGE 53  I  FOSTER CITY, CALIFORNIA  I  JAPAN/CANADA
SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Ken Iisaka has made the finals of the last three Cliburn Amateur Competitions. Since then, he’s taken the top prize in contests in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Washington, D.C. His activity in the amateur piano community has led to concert appearances in Germany, China, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. The Tokyo-born Canadian citizen has worked in software engineering since 1993, in California since 1999. He currently serves as lead software engineer for Indeed, a job search engine, in the artificial intelligence field. He also enjoys music criticism, writing regularly for the San Francisco Classical Voice. He finds competitions “necessary for bettering ourselves,” adding “it is a chance for me to become a better artist. Facing the challenges of a competition has always been a metaphor for my renewal.”

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

RAVEL Prelude in A Minor
CHOPIN Mazurka in A Minor, op. 17, no. 4
CHOPIN Mazurka in C Major, op. 24, no. 2
BACH Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Major, BWV 872

Semifinal Round 

MEDTNER Sonata in F Minor, op. 5 (I)
CHOPIN Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, op. 22

Final Round 

PROKOFIEV Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (I)