MIYUJI KANEKO
Miyuji Kaneko was born in Japan, in 1989 to a Japanese father and a Hungarian mother.
At the age of six he moved to Hungary and stayed with his grandparents in order to study piano under Zsuzsa Cs. Nagy at the Bartok Elementary School of Music. In 2001, at the age of 11, he skipped grades and was accepted to the The Special School for Exceptional Young Talents of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music Budapest, where he studied under Gabor Eckhardt, Gyongyi Kevehazi and Rita Wagner. After finishing all the courses, he returned to Japan in 2006 and entered the Tokyo College of Music High School. He studied under Kazune Shimizu, Akiyoshi Sako, and Katsuko Miura until he received a Master of Musical Arts Diploma at the graduate program of Tokyo College of Music.
In 2009 he became a CHANEL Pygmalion Days Artist.
In 2011 he made his official debut at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, also in the same year, he played in front of His Majesty the Emperor at “Classic Aid Charity Concert” after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
He has performed with numerous orchestras including the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, MAV Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Astana Opera Orchestra.
He also played with conductors Zoltan Kocsis, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Jonathan Nott, Jun Maerkl, Sylvain Cambreling, Janos Kovacs, Alan Buribaev, Alessandro Bonato and John Axelrod. He has performed in Hungary, Japan, the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Vietnam.
He played the piano for the movie “Honeybees and Distant Thunder” premiered in October of 2019, covering one of the main characters, Masaru. Its soundtrack “Miyuji plays Masaru” was also released from Universal Music.
In recent years he has actively undertaken outreach activities, an important aspect of his life’s work. And now he appears regularly as a personality on the Japanese national radio, NHK-FM’s program “Recital Passio.”
On his 10th anniversary of Japan Debut, he held a solo recital at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, also his new Album “Freude” was released from Deutsche Grammophon in March, 2022.
Miyuji Kaneko is an Honorary Citizen of Kismaros, Hungary. He is a Steinway Artist.
International Competition Awards:
First Prize at the Bartok International Piano Competition, Hungary, 2008.
First Prize at the USASU International Piano Competition, Arizona, the USA, 2006.
First Prize at the Konzerteum International Piano Competition, Greece, 2005.
Grand Prix at the Balassagyarmat International Music Festival, Hungary, 2005.
Other Awards:
The 12th Hotel Okura Music Award, 2011
The 22th Idemitsu Music Award, 2012
The 4th C.I.V.C. Joie de Vivre Award, 2012
The 10th Jomo Prize (Jomo Art and Culture Prize, Music Division), 2013.
Mainly appeared TV and Radio channels:
NHK
NHK-FM
TV Asahi
NTV
Fuji TV
TBS Radio
France Television
Magyar Televizio
Duna TV
Tengrinews TV