Kazuhito Yamane
Kazuhito Yamane is a violinist known for his superlative technique, sensitivity of sound, and profound understanding of the music he plays.
Kazuhito has been especially passionate about performing J.S. Bach's works in recent years, and his two concerts of the complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin by J.S. Bach held at Toppan Hall in 2022 and 2023 were a great success. His 1st CD "J.S. Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin" will be released from King Records in September 2024.
Born in 1995 in Sapporo, northern Japan, Kazuhito Yamane won the first prize at the 79th Music Competition of Japan in 2010 while still in the ninth grade, as the first middle-schooler winner of this prestigious event in twenty six years. He was also given the Masuzawa Award for the most impressive performance in all divisions at the competition, the Leucadia Award, the Kuroyanagi Award, the Iwatani Award (audience prize) and the Sumi Award.
With this remarkable achievement, Kazuhito gained an honorable full tuition scholarship to study at the Toho Gakuen Music High School that he graduated from as a top student in March 2014. Since in school, he has been trained as soloist but also chamber player at festivals and masterclasses both inside and outside Japan, receiving numerous music prizes and diplomas.
Kazuhito has performed as a soloist with Japanese and foreign ensembles such as City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Prague Camerata, NHK Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa among many others. He also had the privilege of playing together with the Berlin Philharmonic String Quintet, Maxim Vengerov, Pieter Wispelwey and Nils Mönkemeyer, to name a few. In addition, he is frequently invited to perform as guest for TV and radio shows including TV-Tokyo “Tokyu Silvester Concert”, NHK-TV “La La La Classic”, NHK-FM “Meikyoku (Masterpiece) Recital” and TV-Asahi “Daimei no nai Ongaku-kai (Untitled Concert)”.
He has been associated with Toppan Hall since early in his career. Notable recent activities include the Shostakovich project with Konstantin Lifschitz in 2022. His performance of the Violin Sonata with Lifschitz captivated audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity. Another highlight of his career was his duo with Pieter Wispelwey at Kirari Fujimi in 2017. Produced by Masashi Nishimaki of Toppan Hall, he played the Brahms piano quartet following the Kodaly duo with Wispelwey and has proved himself to be a star among the next generation.
Kazuhito is a recipient of the Yokohama City Board of Education Commendation 2010, the Culture and Art Encouragement Award of the 60th Yokohama Cultural Prize (the youngest ever), the 2nd “Foundation for Youth” Award from Iwatani Tokiko Foundation, the Aoyama Music Award 2015 as a promising new face, the 26th Idemitsu Music Award and the 19th Hotel Okura Music Award.
Kazuhito studied with Yorozu Tomioka, Sachika Mizuno and Koichiro Harada, and Christoph Poppen.
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- kazuhitoyamane.com
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