“An expertly tuned Bechstein piano creates incomparably beautiful sounds. Textures of almost unbelievable clarity and nuances of infinite subtlety can be coaxed from such an instrument.”
Yoshihiro Kondo
Yoshihiro Kondo completed his studies at the Tōhō Gakuen School of Music at the top of his class, and then studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich under Gerhard Oppitz.
He won second place in Japan’s national musical competition in 1987 and performed in public for the first time in 1992 with the Munich Symphony Orchestra. His official debut in Japan was in 1995 and in the following year his first CD was released, which catapulted him into the limelight. Since then he has become one of Japan’s most prestigious pianists and has recorded more than thirty CDs and DVDs as a soloist, with orchestras, and with chamber music ensembles under various labels such as Denon, Decca and Bellwood.
Yoshihiro Kondo has performed in such major venues as Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Symphony Hall in Osaka and the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna. The truly excellent reputation he has made for himself is evidenced by his many guest performances with orchestras in Japan and elsewhere, including the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic and Symphonic Orchestras, the Osaka Symphony Orchestra and the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra. His performances with such conductors as Neeme Järvi, Thomas Sanderling, Cristian Mandeal, Yuzo Toyama, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Hong-jae Kim and Junichi Hirokami likewise evidence his excellent reputation.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his debut, Kondo gave a solo concert in 2016 in the Max Joseph Hall in Munich, and played for the first time in the Great Hall at the Wiener Musikverein, presenting Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5.
Photo: © Hiroshi Makino
