Piano Recital: Tomoki Sakata

Multi-award winner Japanese pianist Tomoki Sakata became an international sensation when, at the young age of 19, he reached the top six finalists in the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition in 2013. Some of the many international prizes he has won ever since include the First Prize along with six special prizes at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Budapest and the First Prize and the Audience Prize in the Kissingen Piano Olympics in Germany. Tomoki Sakata has appeared in major concert venues throughout the world, and has performed with some of the world’s leading orchestras including, Staatskapelle Halle, Fort Worth Symphony, Hungarian Radio Symphony and Tokyo Philharmonic under the baton of such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Alexander Lazarev, Vladimír Válek, Howard Griffiths. For his recital in Nicosia, which is organised by the Pharos Arts Foundation with the kind support of the Keyboard Charitable Trust in London, Sakata will perform an exciting programme of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Ravel and Messiaen. On Friday 14 February 2020 / The Shoe Factory, Nicosia / 8:30pm.

PROGRAMME:

Mozart: Piano Sonata No.5 in G major, K.283
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.15 in D major, Op.28 "Pastorale"
Messiaen: Île de Feu 1
Ravel: Ondine
Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op.13

TOMOKI SAKATA piano

Multi-award winner Japanese pianist Tomoki Sakata became an international sensation when, at the young age of 19, he reached the top six finalists in the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition in 2013. Some of the many international prizes he has won ever since include, the First Prize and the Audience Prize in the Kissingen Piano Olympics in Germany (2019), the First Prize along with six special prizes by a unanimous vote at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Budapest (2016), the Audience Award in the International German Piano Award in Frankfurt (2018), the Vendome Virtuosi Prize in Verbier (2017), the Mozart Prize in the Cleveland Competition (2016) and the Prix du Public in the Geneva Competition (2013).

Tomoki Sakata has made recital, chamber and concerto appearances throughout the world, in major concert venues such as Leipzig Gewandhaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Dvořâk Hall of Rudolfinum in Prague, Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Palace of Arts (Müpa) Budapest, Philharmonie de Luxembourg, RSI Auditorio Stelio Molo in Switzerland, Teatro Grande di Brescia in Italy, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall and Suntory Hall in Japan.

As a soloist, Tomoki Sakata has appeared with some of the world’s leading orchestras including, Staatskapelle Halle, Fort Worth Symphony, Lublin Philharmonic, Czech National Symphony, Hungarian Radio Symphony, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, l’Orchestre Phiharmonique de Maroc, Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Tokyo City Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Sendai Philharmonic, Youngstown Symphony, Bakersfield Symphony to name but a few. He has collaborated with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Alexander Lazarev, Vladimír Válek, Howard Griffiths, Stanislav Kochanovsky, János Kovács, Gergely Kesselyák, Balázs Kocsár, Randall Craig Fleisher and Hikotaro Yazaki.

Tomoki Sakata has appeared in such international music festivals as the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), the International Music Festival “Janáčkův máj” (Czech Republic), the Brussels Piano Festival (Belgium) and the International Festival “Musical Kremlin” (Russia). As a chamber musician, he frequently collaborates with the Tokyo Quartet and the Brentano Quartet. His performances have been broadcasted in Germany (MDR Kultur), Switzerland (Radio Suisse Romande and Radio Svizzera Italiana), Russia (KulturaTV), as well as on the radio and television of Czech Republic, Hungary, Japan, the US, amongst many others.

Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1993, Tomoki Sakata started piano lessons at the age of 5, and began improvising and composing at the age of 6. In 2011, he was admitted as a youngest student of The Lake Como International Piano Academy, where he took masterclasses by prominent musicians such as Dimitri Bashkirov and Tamás Vásáry. Tomoki holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree by the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in Germany, where he has been studying under Arie Vardi.

Tickets:
€15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation,
Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website www.pharosartsfoundation.org/Tickets_online.htm or Tel. +35722663871 / (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)