PERSONS
41stJapanWe received a comment from Yoshiki Kojima, who won first place in the marimba section of the Wind and Percussion Competition.
41stJapanWe won first place in the marimba section of the Wind and Percussion Competition, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, and the Tokyo Governor's Award, as well as the Audience Award at the Special Grand Prize Concert.
I am extremely honored to have received such a wonderful award from this competition, which has produced many great musicians. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has been involved so far.
The last time the marimba section was held was four years ago, and if it had not been for the influence of the coronavirus, it would have been held two years ago in 2020.
From then on, the required piece for the final competition was Akira Ifukube's ``Lauda Concertata.'' As I continued to study, I was attracted to various elements of this work, such as its power and mysterious beauty, and quickly became a fan of Akira Ifukube himself.
Last time as well, I practiced hard with the mindset of ``I'm definitely going to play Lauda!'' but I lost in the second round. This time, I felt even more motivated because of that frustration. Participating while living as a working adult was more difficult than I expected, but the practice within the limited time was rich and meaningful. I think it was very effective to record my own performance and check it out, get advice from family members, and try out various practice methods that I had avoided up until now.
Also, receiving the Audience Award at the Grand Prize Concert gave me a strong sense of joy as I was able to share the appeal of my work with the audience. Although I am disappointed that I was not able to receive the Prime Minister's Award, I will continue to work hard on my musical career, believing that one day a great marimba player will receive that honor.
Yoshitaka Kojima Profile
Born in Kagawa Prefecture. Graduated from Takamatsu Daiichi High School Music Department. He attended Showa College of Music and its graduate school as a scholarship student from admission to graduation. Students will be awarded an honors award upon graduation from their undergraduate degree, and the President's Award upon completion of their master's program. For my master's thesis, I wrote a study on Akira Ifukube's Symphonic Ode "Shakyamuni" under the guidance of Joe Kondo.
Winner of the 7th Australian Marimba Competition. 41stJapanIn the marimba section of the wind and percussion competition, he won first place, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, the Tokyo Governor's Award, and the audience award at the special grand prize concert.
As a concerto soloist, he performed Maki Ishii's Marimba Concerto M-2000 for the first time in 20 years since its first performance, and in 2023 he commissioned a concerto for wind orchestra and marimba, and gave the world premiere of Yukinori Okamura's Laidel.
To date, she has studied percussion and marimba with Kaori Goda, Hiroko Izumori, Satoshi Ishiuchi, Chikage Hayashi, Tomohiro Nishikubo, Jun Sugawara, and Nanae Mimura.
In 2024, he will open the "Kotokoto Music School" in Sagami-Ono where you can learn harp and marimba.
執筆者： 小嶋 義貴
編集：JPC MAG編集部
