Tomoyo Umemura is a pianist, born in Okayama (Japan) in 1988. Since winning the top price at the 17th International Robert Schumann Competition, she has been actively performing and teaching young musicians, mainly in Japan and Germany.
At the age of four she started taking piano lessons at the Yamaha Music School and after attending Okayama Joto High School she graduated from the University of Arts in Tokyo with Prof. Kei Itoh at the top of her class including several honors and also earned her Master's degree. In 2013, she moved to the University of Arts in Berlin (UdK) to continue her studies with Prof. Klaus Hellwig.
As an intern abroad for young artists from the Cultural Office in Japan and a scholarship holder from the Rohm Music Foundation, she completed her master’s degree and concert exam with top marks.
Her major international success includes the Special Prizes and the Audience Prize at the Grand Prix of the PTNA Piano Competition (Japan), 4th place at the International Competition in Pinerolo (Italy), 3rd place at the Tokyo Music Competition (Japan), 2nd place at the Schnabel Competition in Berlin (Germany), as well as 2nd place at the International Robert Schumann Competition (Germany). For these achievements she was awarded the Okayama Culture Prize and the Fukutake Culture Prize.
She specialized in German composers centered on Robert Schumann and is active with her large repertoire in solo and chamber music. She has performed at music festivals and recitals across Japan as well as in Germany, Poland, the USA, Austria, and Italy. She has performed with orchestras such as the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Geidai Philharmonia, Okayama Philharmonic Orchestra, Plauen-Zwickau Philharmonic
Orchestra (Germany) and many others. Her debut CDs "Schumann Vol.1" and "Schumann Vol.2" were released by Octavia Records and received consistently positive reviews.
In recent years, she has also focused on teaching younger students, and has been invited to master classes and seminars throughout Japan.
Tomoyo Umemura official website◆http://www.tomoyoumemura.com/