Masaya Kamei
Japan | Age 20
A native of Aichi, Japan, Masaya Kamei—at the age of 20—has achieved major piano accolades in his home country. He was the first to be accepted to the Toho Gakuen College Music Department a year early (in 2019). At the same time, he was the first to win both of Japan’s largest national competitions, the Music Competition of Japan Piano Division and the PTNA Piano Competition Special Grade, in a single year. Other awards include the Masuzawa, Nomura, Iguchi, Kawai, Miyake, and Steinway Prizes; the Argerich Arts Promotion Foundation Award; and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award.
Those early wins not only provided many invitations for engagements—they also changed the young artist’s performance perspective: “I realized that I would now be playing the piano as the champion of Japan’s largest competition. A new kind of professionalism sprouted in my heart that has always exceeded expectations.”
His vigorous concert schedule the past few years includes recitals and concertos at major halls in Japan, such as Suntory Hall, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, and Tokyo Metropolitan Theater; and with the Tokyo City Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Chiba Symphony, and 21st Century Tokyo Orchestras.
In 2021, Masaya was selected as a scholarship student of the Rohm Music and Ezoe Memorial Recruit Foundations. He is currently a fourth-year student at Toho Gakuen, under the guidance of Hisako Ueno, Michiko Okamoto, and Shoichi Hase. He recently placed third at the 2022 Maria Canals International Music Competition.
REPERTOIRE
Preliminary Round
HOUGH Fanfare Toccata
CHOPIN Etude in A Minor, op. 10, no. 2
BERG Sonata, op. 1
LISZT Réminiscences de Norma
Quarterfinal Round
BACH Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903
LISZT Transcendental Etude No. 4 “Mazeppa”
RACHMANINOV Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 36 (1931)
Semifinal Round – Recital
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”)
LISZT Paganini Etude No. 3 “La campanella”
RAVEL Gaspard de la nuit
BALAKIREV Islamey: Oriental Fantasy
Semifinal Round – Mozart concerto
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459
Final Round – Concerto I
SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, op. 103
Final Round – Concerto II
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, op. 30