MCS Young Artists Fund is proud to announce Itanami Rika, Japan's foremost dramatic soprano active in Italy, residing in Vienna, who will sing in the charity concert for the victims of the Great Flood of Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia.
The organiser is grateful to H E Mr. Mustafa Mujezinovic and Madame Ambassador and the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the UK.
Rika Itanami (mezzo-soprano): Ms Itanami studied with the legendary soprano Giulietta Simionato and sung various title roles at the numerous Italian opera houses. Recently Mme Itanami is active as Nikikai Opera's (Japan's oldest opera) Prima assoluta, appearing in such roles as Lady Macbeth and etc. She is residing in Vienna.
Yoshio Hamano (piano): Born in Tokyo, Japanese-Russian pianist Yoshio Hamano is currently studying for his Master of Performance degree with Dmitri Alexeev at the Royal College of Music after completing his BA at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied with Dr Atsuko Okada. Yoshio had the honour of being a pupil of Elena Ashkenazi for over ten years, and also works with pianists Vadim Sakharov and Dr Nikita Fitenko.
Yoshio has been a prize winner of major international piano competitions, such as the International Russian Music Piano Competition, Minoru Nojima Yokosuka Piano Competition, Alemdar Karamanov Youth Pianists International Competition, and Rome-2003 International Piano Competition. Most recent achievements include First Prize at the 2011 Music Competition of Japan and 2012 Nordic Piano Competition.
Yoshio has performed extensively as soloist with orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra, Geidai Philharmonia, Lund City Orchestra, City of Bishkek Grand Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Tchaikovsky String Quartet, and Vienna Rasumofsky Quartet. To date, Yoshio had the privilege of working with such distinguished conductors as Alexander Lazarev, Andreas Lönnqvist, Kazuki Yamada, Naoto Otomo, and Masahiko Enkoji.