pianist. Akiba was born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1984. In 2003-07, Akiba studied piano at the Faculty of Music of the Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA) and graduated from the university with honors and special prizes. In 2007, he continued his studies in the postgraduate course of TUA and received a Doctor’s Degree (2015). He has repeatedly participated in the master classes of Vladimir Tropp (2003-08) and Victor Merzhanov (2004-05).
In 2009-2011, he improved his skills at the Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the mentorship of Prof. Mikhail Olenev and Prof. Victor Merzhanov. He has also taken private lessons from Victor Bunin in Moscow and Anahit Nersesyan in Yerevan.
Takahiro Akiba was awarded with the 2nd Prize in “the 5th International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia” (Tokyo, Japan) in 2004 and the 1st Prize in the “2nd Komitas International Music Competition” (Prötzel, Germany) in 2013. In 2015 he was awarded with a Certificate of Honor by the Minister of Diaspora of RA Hranush Hakobyan for his “Dedication to the Armenian Music Culture”.
He has held recitals and performed with orchestras in Japan, Russia, Estonia and Armenia. He has also given concerts at several international music festivals, including the Spring Festival 2008 in Tokyo, the S. E. Feinberg Memorial Piano Festival 2010 in Moscow, the Komitas Festival 2013 in Germany and the Eivere International Piano Festival 2016 in Estonia. He has also has appeared with such famous soloists as Michiko Hayashi (mezzo-soprano), Anastasia Chebotareva (violin), Arax Mansourian (soprano) and the Komitas Quartet.
He is currently a lecturer at the Piano Department of the Tokyo University of the Arts and is also the founder and a chairman of the Komitas Music Society of Japan.