Japanese pianist Ryota Yamazaki is emerging as one of this generation’s finest musicians, both sensitive and commanding at the keyboard. A recent third prize and junior jury prize winner of the 64th Busoni International Piano Competition, Yamazaki’s prowess and “his flawless technique produced some fine pianistic f ireworks” (Cleveland Classical). Yamazaki’s upcoming engagements include a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-Flat Major, K. 449 with conductor James Conlon and the Colburn Orchestra, recitals at the Echo Chamber Series and La Jolla Music Society, and a musical interactive with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in Rob Kapilow’s ‘What Makes it Great’ series. Yamazaki has performed with orchestras all over the world, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Jahja Ling and the Cleveland Orchestra, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Chikara Iwamoto and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and again with Takeshi Oi and the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.1 with Joseph Stepec and the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Daiki Omori and the Virtuoso Youth Orchestra, among others.

A dedicated chamber musician, Yamazaki has collaborated with several musicians including violinist Tessa Lark, trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, and pianist Fabio Bidini, in repertoire including Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Schumann, Saint-Saens, and Florence Price. Last season, Yamazaki participated in a two-piano reduction of Debussy’s only opera, Pelleas and Melisandre, with singers from the LA Opera Young Artist Program, conducted by James Conlon, and participated as a recitalist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s ‘Rachmaninoff Was Here’ outreach project. —continued— Yamazaki has won numerous awards including first prize in the Ke’ Alohi International Piano Competition, first prize in the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the PTNA Piano Competition, first prize at the Yasuko Fukuda Scholarship Audition, and first prize in the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition. Committed to educational excellence, Yamazaki has participated in master classes and coachings with pianists including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Emanuel Ax, Jon Nakamatsu, Jerome Rose, Jon Kimura Parker, and Orion Weiss, among others. Ryota Yamazaki is currently a Performance Diploma student at the Colburn School under the tutelage of Fabio Bidini, Carol Colburn Grigor Piano Chair. Ryota Yamazaki is currently represented by Colburn Artists