Takeshi Kiriyama

Takeshi Kiriyama, a native of Nagano, began studying the violin through the Suzuki Method at the age of three. He completed both undergraduate and graduate studies at Tokyo University of the Arts, and subsequently graduated from Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. In 1998, he won first prize at the 12th International Competition for Early Music Yamanashi and received the Prize of the Tochigi “Kurano Machi” Music Festival. The following year, he was awarded first prize in the solo section of the International Competition Musica Antiqua Bruges. He has served as a juror for several competitions, including the Early Music Competition Yamanashi in 2005, the national finals of the Student Music Concours of Japan in 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023, and the Japan Music Competition in 2024.
He is active as the concertmaster for ensembles such as the Orchestra Symposion and the Bach Festival Ensemble Matsumoto and as the violist of the Erdödy Quartet. In 2019, he served as concertmaster for the “Kiyoshi Okayama Memorial Orchestra.” His debut CD Chaconne, released in autumn 2000, was selected as an Reviewer’s Choice (tokusenban) by the prestigious music magazine Record Geijutsu. Since then, he has released numerous recordings, primarily with Kojima Recordings. His 2020 CD Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin with Piano Accompaniments by Schumann and Mendelssohn was praised for its “solid technique and sincere approach to the works.”
Currently, he is a professor at Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts. He is also the co-founder of the duo unit “O-Edo Baroque” with harpsichordist Naoya Otsuka.
[as of January 2025]