JURY MEMBERS
The honorary jury members safeguard the impartial, fair, and transparent results of the competition.
Takahiro Akiba
Pianist
Takahiro Akiba is a lecturer of Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, Doctor.
Studied at Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA), (Prof. Kenji Watanabe) and repeatedly took master classes from Vladimir Tropp and Victor Merzhanov.
In 2009-2011, he improved his skills at the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Prof. Mikhail Olenev, Prof. Victor Merzhanov). He has also participated in the lessons of Prof. Anahit Nersesyan in Yerevan and Prof. Victor Bunin in Moscow.
He has given concerts with orchestras in Japan, Russia, Estonia, has also performed at several international music festivals, including Tokyo Opera no Mori Spring Festival, Karuizawa International Music Festival, Eivere International Piano Festival and Komitas International Conference-Festival. He has appeared with such famous soloists as Arax Mansourian, Karen Shahgaldyan, Dmitri Feigin, Seiji Yokokawa, Mie Kobayashi, Keiko Urushihara, and the Komitas Quartet.
He is known as a "preacher" of Armenian classical music and a producer of the Armenian Music Festival in Japan. In Japan, he presented premieres of pieces by such Armenian composers as Eduard Mirzoyan, Lazar Saryan, Tigran Mansurian, Ashot Zohrabyan, Tatev Amiryan. In 2015, Akiba was awarded with a Certificate of Honor by the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia for his “Dedication to the Armenian Music Culture”. In 2022, he was awarded the "Gold medal" of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia.
