Around the Music Festival

On September 10, Yo Kitamura of Japan won the first prize in the cello division of the Georges Enescu International Competition held in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, as well as the Sebastian Androne Nakanishi Composition Prize. Second place went to Ettore Pagano of Italy, and third place went to Hadon Kay, a Chinese-American.

The winner, Kitamura, is 20 years old and grew up in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He was enrolled in the soloist diploma course at Toho Gakuen School of Music, where he studied with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Nobuko Yamazaki, etc.

He won the second prize at the Khachaturian International Competition in 2022 and both the Johannes Brahms International Competition and the Japan Music Competition in the cello category in 2023.

He has also studied with Jens-Peter Meinz at the Berlin University of the Arts since the fall of 2023. He uses a 1668 Cassini on loan from Ueno Pharmaceutical Co.

The competition is held every two years, this year from August 31 to September 27. The cello section jury was chaired by Arto Noras. In the finals, Kitamura performed Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and was highly praised for his rich musicality and promise.

PHOTO：George Enescu Festival


　　Click here for details　▷