Biography

Kiyotaka IZUMI was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 1995 he graduated from the Music High School attached to the Faculty of Music, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. In 1997 he came to Belgium in order to pursue his studies at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, under the supervision of Levente Kende and Heidi Hendrickx.

In 2002 Kiyotaka IZUMI received the Master of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, summa cum laude in piano. Afterwards he studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels under the supervision of Boyan Vodenitcharov. In 2005 he received the Specialization in Chamber Music degree from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and in 2008, the Postgraduate Concert Soloist degree, again summa cum laude, from the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. He has taken master classes with Murray Perahia, Hans Leygraf, Jan Wijn and Jozef De Beenhouwer, as well as private lessons with Conrad Hansen in Hamburg, Germany.

Kiyotaka IZUMI was a laureate of several national and international piano competitions: the Machida Piano Competition (Japan 1992), the Benelux Young Virtuoso Competition (Belgium 1998), the International EPTA Competition for Piano Duo (Belgium 1999) (at which he also received the SABAM Prize), the International Emmanuel Durlet Piano Competition (Belgium 2002) (at which he also received the special prize for the best performance of the work of Emmanuel Durlet), the International Maria Yudina Competition for Piano Duo (Russia 2005), the International Piano Competition Vila de Capdepera, where he was also awarded the special prize for the best performance of music by a Balearic Island Composer (Spain 2005), the International Competition “Un Ricetto in Musica” for piano duo (Italy 2008), the TV Music Award (France 2014) and the Concours Musical de France (France 2015).

He has performed at the International Chopin Festival in Ghent, as well as at a Royal Gala Concert for Prince Philip and Princess Mathilde of Belgium. He has played with orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Academic Symphonic Orchestra of Volgograd, the Concert Festival Orchestra, the Hermes Ensemble and the Orchestra of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. Kiyotaka performs in many of Belgium's most prestigious venues: the Center for Fine Arts (Bozar) in Brussels, deSingel in Antwerp, the Bijloke Concert Hall in Ghent and the Concertgebouw in Bruges. Abroad, he has performed on prominent stages in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, England, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere. Kiyotaka Izumi has already recorded 11 CDs with music by Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Durlet,Fiocco, Boutmy, Robson, Rick and Knowledge. His CDs and live concerts have often been broadcast by radios in Belgium, Germany and Japan.

Kiyotaka is a pianist - accompanist at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. He teaches piano at the Municipal Academies of Music and Word in Borgerhout and Willebroek.