On August 22nd, the final round of the special grade was held in Tokyo, where four finalists appeared on stage with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Chikara Iwamura. Among the finalists, Umemura, the only female finalist this year, played Beethoven 5th Emperor concerto with full energy and beautiful interpretation (see video).

 It was the following day on 23rd that she was announced to be the grand prize winner. Flower was given to her by the predecessor, Mizuho Nakada(left). Supported by the enthusiastic appreciation by audience, Umemura also received the audience prize. Half of the admission income of the final round is allocated to this prize, which is turned out to be the amount of 509,750 yen. 
Silver prize was given to Atsushi Imada(19), and Bronze to Jun Kaneko(23). 
*See semi-final performance by Tomoyo Umemura (Schumann Fantasie op.17)
*Go to the result page

Born in 1988, Tomoyo Umemura began studying piano at the age of 4, and four years later, she took part in PTNA piano competition for the first time. In 2005 She won the gold prize at grade G, the second hightest level under 26. It took her five years to move one step forward, to reach the special grade (no age limit) which she dreamed of in her childhood.

Umemura is now senior at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. She has been taught by Kimihiko Kimijima, Claudio Soares and Kei Ito. She will appear in the International Music Festival in Poland (Naleczów) next summer. Her concert schedule will be upcoming.

1.Masahiro YAMAGUCHI (24):
  Schumann: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra a-Moll Op.54

2.Jun KANEKO (23): 
   Rachmaninov : Concerto for piano and orchestra No.2 Op.18

3.Tomoyo UMEMURA (21) :
   Beethoven :Piano Concerto No.5 Emperor Es-Dur Op.73

4.Atsushi IMADA (19):
   Tchaikovsky: Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1 Op.23

 *order of performance at the final round

On August 22nd, those 4 finalists will play concerti with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Chikara Iwamura. Iwamura is the residence conductor of Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra where Yutaka Sado is serving as the artistic director. 
Jury members for the semi-final and final rounds are consists of 9 professors, including Robert Levin, Warren M.Thomson, Christoph Lieske and Gabriel Kwok as international jury members. 

All the performances will be broadcasted on Ustream, and live reports by 4 opinion leaders will be available on twitter (see). This twitter project is programmed separately from the adjudication, and is not subject to any of the results.

1.Yuma MATSUOKA (21)

-Semi-final round:
J.S.Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier II, No.15 BWV884
Mozart: Piano Sonata No.10 C-Dur K.330
Brahms: The Variations on a Theme of Paganini op.35
Debussy:L'Isle joyeuse
Maki Nakajima: Vent

-Final round:
Mozart: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No.23 A-Dur K.488

2.Tomoyo UMEMURA (21)

-Semi-final round:
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.13 Es-Dur "Sonata quasi una fantasia" Op.27-1
Schumann=Liszt: Widmung S.566
Schumann: Fantasie C-Dur Op.17
Maki Nakajima: Vent

-Final round:
Beethoven :Piano Concerto No.5 Emperor Es-Dur Op.73

3.Saori INAJIMA (22)

-Semi-final round:
J.S.Bach:6 Partita No.2, c-Moll BWV 826
Chopin: Sonata h-Moll Op.58
Schumann: Fantasie C-Dur Op.17
Maki Nakajima: Vent

-Final round:
Chopin:Concerto for piano and orchestra e-Moll Op.11

4. Jun KANEKO (23)

-Semi-final round:
J.S.Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier II,No.5 BWV874
Liszt: Grandes études de Paganini S.141 Nr.6
Prokofiev: Sonata for piano No.8 Op.84
Scriabin: Deux poemes Op.32
Maki Nakajima: Vent

-Final round:
Rachmaninov: Concerto for piano and orchestra No.2 Op.18

5.Masahiro YAMAGUCHI (24)

-Semi-final round:
Mozart: 12 piano variations "Ah vous dirai-je, maman" C-Dur K.265
Chopin: Barcarolle Fis-Dur Op.60
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin
Teruyuki Noda :Ode Capricious for Piano
Maki Nakajima: Vent

-Final round:
Schumann: Concert for Piano and Orchestra a-Moll Op.54

6.Atsushi IMADA (19)

-Semi-final round:
Mozart: Piano Sonata No.4 Es-Dur K.282
Schumann: Piano Sonata No.2 g-Moll Op.22
Scriabin: Sonata for Piano No. 4 Op.30
Scriabin: Sonata for Piano No.5 Op.53
Maki Nakajima: Vent

-Final round:
Tchaikovsky: Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1 Op.23

7.Koki KUROIWA (18)

-Semi-final round:
J.S.Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier II, No.23 BWV892
Chopin: Barcarolle Fis-Dur Op.60
Liszt: Sonata B minor S.178
Maki Nakajima: Vent

-Final round:
Chopin:Concerto for piano and orchestra e-Moll Op.11

*Their profiles and interview videos are available here (Japanese).

In PTNA Piano Competition, all participants are required to prepare pieces of four periods, Baroque, Classic, Roman, Modern, and one Japanese piece is assigned at each grade, as a part of the repertoires of Modern period. Thus, participants get familiar with Japanese music from their early stage. This year, the statistics shows Japanese pieces are frequently selected, especially in the lower grades between grade A1(under 8) to C(under 12).

This regulation started in 1977 when the competition was inaugurated, and Japanese works had been comissioned every year since then. After comissioning was replaced to public audition in 1987, the number of application has steadily increased and in 2008 it reached 213 (listen). Those application are examined twice at the New Composition Selection Committee, chaired by Prof.Hideo Arashino. Among those selected, some were published from Kawai (publishing department) and played occasionally even after the competition. 

Apart from the competition, exposure of Japanese pieces are increasing.

Musse, the on-demand publishing service selling variety of Classical pieces and Japanese compositions, has just started to sell works of Sonoo Terauchi. Among them, a collection of works titled "IKARUGA" is captivating (listen), which seems to be inspired by the old temples and statues in Nara, the place where the ancient capital 'Ikaruga' was established almost 1,500 years ago.

Besides those composers, there are people who aims at discovering Japanese-written pieces and introducing them. Eiko Sudo, a musicologist and pianist, introduces variety of pieces in her series of article "Piano Pieces Made In Japan". Last year she made further study in Boston and New York as a researcher, and there she performed some Japanese contemporary music. Back in Japan, recently she broadens her repertoire to the music for children, such as Takekuni Hirayoshi (listen), Toru Takemitsu "Piano Pieces for Children <Bleeze><Cloud>" (listen) etc.

Pianists of next generation also takes interest in bringing music of their homeland to abroad. Natsumi Kuboyama (17) who received a prize of encouragement at the Yasuko Fukuda audition 2009, was invited to play in New York last May. She played two pieces "The Ball is Tomorrow"(Tomohiro Moriyama), and "Prelude"(Kunihiro Nakamura) along with Bach and Chopin, at Fabbri Concert Series and a concert for Live Music by Living Composers. The interpretation was well received by the American audience.

PTNA Piano Encyclopedia for All

As you enter into this new encyclopedia, you can see brief explanations of 16 important composers from Baroque to Modern period, such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Rachmaninov, etc.. There are also references of related composers in their lifetime, as well as introduction of pieces recommendable for kids.

This all-users-friendly-encyclopedia is followed by three other ways of enjoying music; Quiz, Daily fortune, and Karaoke.

'Quiz' presents variety of questions about piano pieces in the form of multiple-choice test; 

-Q. "Who is a friend of Chopin?" 
-A. 1.Bach  2.Beethoven  3.Liszt  4.Rachmaninov

-Q."Waltz is a dance music. What is the rhythm?"
-A.1. double time 2.triple time  3.quadruple time 4. quintuple time

-Q."How many black keys on keyboard?" 
-A. 1. 34 keys  2. 35 keys   3. 36 keys   4. 37 keys

Each answer leads to detailed explanation and suggestion of related pieces.

'Omikuji', the daily fortune, proposes which piano piece is suitable for the day. You may also find if you are lucky enough to play the piece..!?

'Karaoke' introduces piano accompaniment for popular music. With this karaoke video(q.v."Little Brown Jug"), one may play any instruments alone or in a group (example). Online karaoke is expected to bring other instruments closer to piano and to increase collaborative works.  For instance, school kids who plays recorder, harmonica, etc at school could also enjoy them at home. (q.v. PTNA School Concert Project)
 
Through this activity-oriented encyclopedia, anyone can enjoy and learn music by clicking a button. The regular encyclopedia will support you, with a huge text/audio data base, when you want to explore furthermore. Let's try!

Four opinion leaders will be twittering while the performances being broadcasted by Ustream. Those four people, representing the world of music and art in Japan, are as follows; Sakura Amamiya, Yoichi Iio, (music writers), Ichiro Kaneko (PTNA Piano Competition grand prize winner in 2005) and Shogo Kariyazaki(flower artist). Please see their profiles below.

In general, audience increase is one of the shared goals in the music world and also an important project that PTNA has been working on for years. In 2002, "Audience Prize" was introduced in the special grade, which awards the winner half of the admission fee at the final round. It literally enables audiences to give direct support and sponsorship to young pianists. It evokes a substantial interest and the prize has reached its highest amount in 2007 (0.88 million yen).

This year, the Ustream & twitter project is expected to invite greater audience online, and to show variety of perspectives on individual performances, apart from the official judge. See Ustream page. (photo: Iio, Amamiya, and Kaneko at the meeting) 

*Profiles of 4 opinion leaders

Shogo Kariyazaki, a flower artist, is famous for the dynamic flower designs and arrangements. He made exhibisions across Japan and overseas, in Keukenhof (Holland), Shanghai Expo, etc. He will make flower installation at Rome International Film Festival (Oct-Nov) and Petit Palais in Paris (Dec-Jan 2011). He also gives a number of collaborative performances with pianists / musicians in Japan. (*8/22 only)

Sakura Amamiya, pianist, piano teacher and music writer, obtained the master's degree at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and won the gold medal at the 26th Viotti International Piano Competition. She is now teaching piano and chamber music at Toho Gakuen School of Music.

Yoichi Iio, music writer, had been an editor of 'Ongaku-no-Tomo' and 'Record Geijutsu', etc. and became independent in 2005. One of his outstanding works is the guidebooks for classical music lovers such as 'Best 100 Selection of Classical Music', and an online journal called 'Classica' which gains over 300 thousands access monthly.

Ichiro Kaneko, the grand prize winner in 2005, is a pianist and high school teacher specialized in mathematics. He has given recitals and CD recordings, and also published a book titled "A Pianist Who Makes Challenges - how to be self-educated?". He also wrote a series of articles about Debussy on PTNA online journal.

*All the posts on twitter will be open to public except judges. Those four people will be kept separated from judges and audience during the session, and judges cannot see any of the live reports until the end of the final round.  

 Rich musical experience can be realized by the collective ideas of individual teachers and the dense network of local community.

PTNA Piano STEP, the concert style evaluation, has been expanding its number of venues and participants since 1996 and now it is organized at approximately 400 venues throughout the nation. From its origin, it has been kept deeply rooted in local communities, while PTNA Piano Competition is organized at the strict national standard. Each venue (Station) is organized by local piano teachers and they freely put individual ideas and plans to use, in order to encourage paricipants to have rich musical experience. 

One of the local organizers, Mrs.Mari Kumagai, a teacher living in Saitama prefecture, established the Kawaguchi Station in 2006 to hold STEP annually. Her efforts of promoting STEP in local community is outstanding. She asked directly to public schools in the city of Kawaguchi, 0.5 million of population, to display the STEP posters and to encourage the active parcitipants at their school. (Those who take part in STEP are given certificates every five times). Board of education in Kawaguchi even cooporate in this movement and called to the principals of each public school to commend the achievements of their students at the school assembly.

Despite its short history, Kawaguchi Station got high reputation. This autumn, she is going to organize STEP by splitting into two days to accept larger number of participants.

  In Tokyo, Prof.Tetsuya Akiyama organized STEP with two big educational schemes; analyse and concerto performance with orchestra. Since the musical analyse had been less studied in Japan, Prof.Akiyama tried to put this scheme in STEP, so as to encourage young pianists to play the pieces with analytical thoughts. This scheme gains popularity and next December, he will put another analyse project into practice at larger scale.

Despite the decline of child birth rate, the number of participants are increasing at those venues, thanks to local piano teachers and their continuous efforts for promotion.