Michiaki Ueno
Cello

Winner of the First Prize and three special prizes at the 75th Geneva International Music Competition in 2021, Michiaki Ueno has proven to be one of the most promising artists on the classical music scene today. Born in Paraguay in 1995, he started his cello studies at the age of five. At the age of 11, he gave his first concerto performance at the prestigious Suntory Hall, playing the Lalo Cello Concerto. This later led to his success in becoming the first ever Japanese winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 2009. A year later, he won First Prize and special prizes at the Romanian International Music Competition, and in 2014, he won First Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition.

As a soloist, Ueno has performed with orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Warsaw Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra and Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. As a chamber musician, he has shared the stage with artists including Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Augustin Dumay, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Akiko Suwanai, Daniel Sepec etc. He has participated in festivals around the world, including the Verbier Festival, Prussia Cove International Musicians Seminar, La Folle Journée de Nantes, Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier, Pacific Music Festival and Beethovenfest Bonn, where he was awarded the Beethoven Ring in 2024.

Having received musical education from the late Shoichi Baba, Iñaki Etxepare and Hakuro Mohri, Ueno also studied with Pieter Wispelwey at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and Gary Hoffman at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.

Ueno’s ambitious début album featuring the complete Bach Cello Suites was nominated for an Opus Klassik award. Other awards he has won include the Foundation for Youth Award in 2011 and the Honourable Award in 2015, both from the Iwatani Tokiko Foundation; the Aoyama Music Prize in 2017, Idemitsu Music Award in 2022, as well as Hotel Okura Music Award and Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award in 2023. In 2021, he was conferred a commendation from the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan. He was generously supported by foundations such as the Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation, Rohm Music Foundation and Ezoe Memorial Recruit Foundation.

Ueno plays a Paolo Antonio Testore cello on loan from the Munetsugu Collection, using a François Xavier Tourte bow on loan from the Sumino Taishi Collection.