Michiaki Ueno, cello

Born in Paraguay in 1995, Michiaki started his cello study at the age of five. In 2001 he moved to Barcelona where he studied with Iñaki Etxepare. After returning to Japan, he studied at the Toho Gakuen College Music Department, SD Course under the tutelage of Hakuro Mohri. Since 2015, he is pursuing his study at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf with Pieter Wispelwey.

In 2007 at the age of eleven, he gave his first concerto performance at the prestigious Suntory Hall. This later leads to his success in becoming the first Japanese ever to win the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians held in 2009 at the age of thirteen. A year later, he wins the first prize in the Romanian International Music Competition along with several special awards; Romanian Embassy Prize, and The Romanian Radio Culture Prize. He won the first prize in the International Johannes Brahms Competition in 2014. His most recent title has been the second prize in the Witold Lutoslawski Cello Competition in 2018.

He has taken part in Music Festivals and Seminars, such as the Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, Verbier Festival Academy, International Music Festival Nippon, Takefu International Music Festival, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, Kronberg Academy Cello Masterclasses.

As a soloist, he has performed with numerous orchestras such as the Russian Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Sinfonietta Zilina, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and New Japan Philharmonic among other orchestras.

Michiaki has received awards such as the “Foundation for Youth Award” (2011), the “Honorable Award” (2015) from Iwatani Tokiko Foundation, and the “Aoyama Music Prize” (2017) as a promising rising star. He has been generously supported by the Japan Federation of Musicians, Rohm Music Foundation, Ezoe Memorial Recruit Foundation, and Dr. Sieghardt Rometsch Stiftung.

In September 21, Michiaki will be an artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under the guidance of Gary Hoffman and Jeroen Reuling.