2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Hajime Kobayashi, 50
Management consultant
Niiza, Japan
Japan

Hajime Kobayashi, a 2011 Cliburn Amateur competitor, did not receive any formal music education, but was exposed to classical music as a child. He majored in architecture at the University of Tokyo, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. Later, he received an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. After a long interval away from the piano, he resumed playing in 2007 and has since won the Piano Teachers National Association Competition as well as the audition for the Artus Music Society. Mr. Kobayashi is looking forward to reuniting with competition friends this year, as well as brushing up on his piano skills. In his free time, he is interested in a broad array of academic concerns, from mathematics to Western history, and he likes to work out at his local gym, watch American television series, and garden.

Program:
MENDELSSOHN, Variations sérieuses, op. 54