In the 10th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, held in November 2018, Ushida was awarded 2nd Prize, the highest prize won by a Japanese in the competition’s history, as well as the Mayor of Warsaw Prize and the Audience Prize. He was awarded the 29th Idemitsu Music Award in March 2019.
Ushida was born in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, in 1999. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Shanghai, where his father was transferred for work, and lived there until he was six. Tomoharu began his piano studies at about three years old. He is currently a student of Piotr Paleczny at Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He is also advised by Artem Agazhanov, Alexander Versinin and Koji Shimoda.
In February 2012, at the age of 12, Tomoharu won 1st Prize in the 16th Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition (becoming the youngest winner in its history). He subsequently began his performance career in earnest. In March 2012, he was the youngest-ever Japanese classical pianist to release a debut CD on the Universal Music label. Since then he has released numerous CDs including Tomoharu Ushida Debut (2012), Memories (2012), Liszt & Chopin (2013), Traumerei (2014), Liebesfreud (2015), Pictures at an Exhibition (2016), Chopin 24 Preludes and Ballade No. 1 (2019), and in August 2022, he released CHOPIN RECITAL 2022 as his first live recording. His four most recent CDs were included in the Record Geijutsu Special Selection.
In addition to performing recitals and appearing with well-known conductors and orchestras throughout Japan, Ushida has performed as a soloist on the Japan tours of the Wiener Kammerorchester conducted by Stefan Vladar (2014), Russian National Orchestra led by Mikhail Pletnev (2015 and 2018), Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ken-ichiro Kobayashi (2016), and Warsaw Philharmonic led by Jacek Kaspszyk (2018). Having earned praise for his musical artistry, he was invited to appear with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev in Russia in May 2019, and in recitals in Warsaw and Brussels in August and October that year. In January 2024, he will perform as a soloist on the Japan tours of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
Tomoharu Ushida’s activities have been presented on television and other media, including the NHK TV program “Professional.”
Tomoharu Ushida turned 20 in 2019, and to mark this occasion he gave a highly successful solo recital at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on August 31, 2020. In March 2022, he carried out recitals celebrating the 10th anniversary of his debut and received acclaim in every location. He has been the focus of much attention as a leading young pianist in terms of both popularity and outstanding artistry.
