Yo KitamuraYo Kitamura

Yo Kitamura is a promising young cellist. In September 2024, Kitamura achieved a historic first by winning the cello division of the George Enescu International Competition. This accomplishment marked the first-ever victory by a Japanese musician in this category. Additionally, Kitamura was honored with the Sebastian Androne-Nakanishi Composition Award. In September 2023, he won the first prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of the contemporary compulsory piece donated by the composer Dr. Johannes Kropfitsch at the 29th International Johannes Brahms Competition. At the 92nd Music Competition of Japan in October the same year, in addition to the first prize in the cello category he won Iwatani prize (audience prize), Masuzawa prize, Kuroyanagi prize, Tokunaga prize, and IMPEX prize. He won the first prize (by unanimous decision) at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 2017, and the second prize at the 2022 Khachaturian International Competition.

Kitamura made his orchestra debut at the age of nine, and his recital debut the following year. He has performed with numerous orchestras, led by conductors such as Kenichiro Kobayashi, Ken Takaseki, Naoto Ohtomo, Sachio Fujioka, Kazuki Yamada and Andrei Feher. In 2020, he earned outstanding reviews when he substituted for Julian Steckel in a concert with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michiyoshi Inoue. Kitamura has studied with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Nobuko Yamazaki. He won the Music Festival Prize at the 2021 Kirishima International Music Festival. Kitamura has received scholarships from the Munetsugu Angel Fund/Japan Federation of Musicians, Yamaha Music Foundation, Japan Music Foundation JESC, and Ezaki Scholarship. He was a scholarship student of the 52nd Recruit Scholarship and 2023 Rohm Music Foundation scholarship.
Kitamura is currently a student in the Soloist Diploma Course at Toho Gakuen School of Music. Since the fall of 2023 he has studied with Jens-Peter Maintz at the Berlin University of the Arts.
He plays a 1668 “Casini” cello, on loan from Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Co., Ltd.