Prize winners' concert of Grandmuse division at PTNA Piano Competition 2010 will be held on February 19th. 12 soloists and 2 duo groups will appear at Hakuju Hall in Tokyo. 

Tomokazu YOKOYAMA (1st, A1 category) will play Liszt's Soirees de Vienne (Valses caprices d'apres Schubert) in the 200th anniversary year of Liszt. He has been taking part in the PTNA competition almost every year, as a milestone of the continuous study and development of his performances.(VTR)

Kaori NAKAMURA (2nd, A1 category) has already had 128 stage points, which means she had played on public stage 128 times since 2004. Among those stages, she has also experienced chemballo at PTNA Piano STEP in 2008, and started to practice it since then. Her current goal is to acquire well-balanced repertoires from Baroque to modern. (VTR) She will play Haydn Sonata Hob.XVI-6.

Kotaro KAMEI (1st, B1 category) graduated Meiji University 2 years ago, where he joined piano club 'Klavier' and meet lots of friends who like music. While working at office, now he tries to find time to study piano more and also hopes to find opportunities to play duo and chamber music. He will play Rachmaninov's Scherzo (Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Levitzki's Waltz op.2. Yumi KOIZUMI (1st, B2 category), who will play Poulenc Les soirees de Nazelles (var.1-3), resumed practicing piano after her children started going to kindergarten. She has been trying to study one piece a year.

Yumi TOMOCHIKA (1st, Ya category) will perform "Opalesque Sonata" by Akira NISHIMURA. Tomochika, the 3rd year in Tokyo College of Music, would like to express the transitional beauty of opal which receives the soft sunlight of autumn. (VTR)

Shinjiro OTSUKA and Kensuke OTA (2nd, D category), ranked after Akiko KATO & Akiko TSUZURA (1st, D category VTR), met each other in the solo category of Grandmuse division a few years ago. They confessed that it was hard to make time and adjust their respirations at the beginning, and it was just before the competition that the score reading was completed. But the outcome was successful, and they will be pleased to play Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue in the winner's concert.

Next Grandmuse division will be held between May-August 2011.

 

*Go to 'PTNA Gradmuse' facebook page 

**Go to Prize winners' concert 2010 (VTR archives) 

***Categories in Grandmuse division
-A1 & A2 are the categories open for anyone, who are 23 or above(A1), 40 or above(A2).
-B1 & B2 are the categories open for people who are not music professionals and didn't receive any professional music training at music colleges/schools
-Ya & Yb are the categories open for people under 22. Yb is only non-professionals.
-D category is for duo.