An exciting programme of Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Gershwin by award-winning pianist Masayuki Tayama.
Masayuki Tayama, one of today’s most accomplished pianists, is much in demand across Europe and Japan. He first came to prominence when he won First Prize in the Takahiro Sonoda International Piano Competition in Japan, followed by numerous top prizes in Europe, including the Birmingham International Piano Competition. Tayama studied at the Toho University of Music in Japan, and subsequently in London on a Fellowship from the Japanese Government, where he was awarded the Performer’s Diploma with Honour from both the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
His London debut took place in 2002 at the Southbank Centre and since then, he has been performing regularly at highly prestigious venues including Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and St. John’s Smith Square. His recent performances with orchestra, notably at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Fairfield Halls and the Last Night of the St Jude’s Proms, include all the Piano Concertos by Brahms and Rachmaninov, collaborating with conductors including Stephen Bell, Adrian Brown, Darrell Davison, John Gibbons, Levon Parikian, Brien Stait and Vladimir Válek.
He has earned an enviable reputation as a Rachmaninov specialist, and is currently in the midst of a project to record Rachmaninov’s complete works for solo piano. His first recording of the two Sonatas won the accolade ‘Best Recording of the Month’ in Stereo magazine, and his second CD of the complete Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux and Morceaux de Fantaisie followed to critical acclaim. The third disc of the two sets of Variations has been chosen as a ‘Tokusen-ban’ (Specially Selected and Recommended) in the January 2016 issue of Record Geijutsu, Japan’s most authoritative classical music and review magazine.
Tayama is much sought after as a teacher and adjudicator. From 2010 to 2017, he taught First Study pianists at Chetham’s School of Music, Britain’s largest specialist music school, and gave solo recitals and Master Classes at the Chetham’s International Summer School and Festival for Pianists. Earlier this year, he was appointed a Principal Tutor of The Piano Teachers' Course UK, the country's leading professional development course for piano pedagogy. He is also a Professor at the Elmitt Piano Academy where he gives regular Master Classes and Lecture-Recitals, and is also a registered adjudicator with the European Piano Teachers Association.