Masahiro SAITOH, a renowned and brilliant pianist, is one of the most outstanding Japanese artists of his generation. After graduating from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts & Music, he studied under H. Czerny-Stefanska in Krakow, Poland. In 1977, he was awarded first prize at the Japan Music Competition and received awards in 1980 and 1985. He was invited as a soloist to the International Music Festival in Kiev, Ukraine in 1995. He has performed with major orchestras in Japan, the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Korea and the chamber orchestra, Pro-Arte Munchen. His chamber music credits include performing with Josef Suk, Peter Schumidl, Wenzel Fuchs, Ernst Ottensamer, Jouko Harjanne, Erich Binder, Xue Wei, Michaela Fukacova, Halina Czerny-Stefanska & Elzbieta Stefanska, the Via-Nova Quartet, Janacek Quartet, New Budapest String Quartet, Salzburger Oktett, the German Strings Trio, the members of the Orchestle National de l'ORTF and the members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which are all highly acclaimed. A great deal of his work includes concerts with distinguished singers, such as Lucia Aliberti, Francisco Araiza, Ritva Auvinen, Bodil Arnesen, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Gwendolyn Bradley, Denyce Graves, Taro Ichihara, Tamar Javakhishvili, Vincenzo La Scola, Lajos Miller, Thomas Mohl, Camilla Nylund, Laszlo Polgar, Juan Pons, Roger Roloff, Charlotte de Rothschild, Shinobu Sato, Chieko Sirasaka, Ilona Tokody, Frederick Urrey, Tom Krause, Simon Estes and others. He enjoys an established reputation as one of Japan's best pianists. Since 1994, he has directed master classes at the Osaka Music University and he is also a regular perfomer on NHK TV.

Masahiro Saitoh Official Web Site http://masahiro-saitoh.com/