JURY MEMBERS
The honorary jury members safeguard the impartial, fair, and transparent results of the competition.
Takahiro Akiba, Japan
Pianist
He studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA) with Professor Kenji Watanabe, and also participated in masterclasses with Professors Vladimir Tropp and Viktor Merzhanov.
He continued his training at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Professors Mikhail Olenev and Viktor Merzhanov, as well as in the classes of Professor Anahit Nersesyan (Yerevan) and Professor Viktor Bunin (Moscow).
He has collaborated with Arax Mansourian, Karen Shahgaldian, Dmitry Feigin, Seiji Yokokawa, Mie Kobayashi, Keiko Urushihara, and the Komitas Quartet.
In Japan, he is widely recognized as an “ambassador” of Armenian classical music and as the producer of the Armenian Music Festival. He has presented Japanese premieres of works by Armenian composers such as Eduard Mirzoyan, Lazar Saryan, Tigran Mansurian, Ashot Zohrabyan, Tatev Amiryan, among others.
In 2022, he was honorary awarded the “gold medal” of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia. Currently, he is teaching as an associate professor of the Aichi University of the Arts (AUA).
