Young Musicians of Baltimore

Kenneth has been a prize winner at national and international competitions, including the prestigious 2nd Viktor Tretyakov International Violin Competition, where his performances were broadcast live on The Violin Channel. He has twice been featured as a Student Artist for the Starling-DeLay Symposium on violin studies held at The Juilliard School, and has performed at many summer festivals and programs, including Music Academy of the West, the Heifetz International Music Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, Summit Music Festival, and the Taipei Music Academy Festival.

Performing highlights include concerto appearances with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the United States Army Orchestra, the Columbia Orchestra, the Kennett Symphony, the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra, the Krasnoyarsk Chamber Orchestra, and the Siberian State Symphony Orchestra.

Kenneth holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Li Lin, and is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at Yale, where he studies with Ani Kavafian. Kenneth performs on a 1780 Nicolò Gagliano violin, graciously loaned to him by the Ryuji Ueno Foundation.

Hailed by the Washington post as “A pianist’s pianist”, Ryo Yanagitani has established himself as one of Canada’s shining artists. His success includes winning the gold medal at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he was also given special recognition for a performance of the complete Chopin Ballades. He is also the grand prize winner of the Hugo Kauder International Piano competition and a laureate of the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano competition in Vina del Mar (Chile), and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Ryo has made concerto appearances with orchestras around the world including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Kioi Symphonietta. His performances have taken him to such venues as the Kennedy Center, The National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Salle Cortot in Paris among others.

In addition to his solo career, he is much sought after as a chamber musician, performing in a wide range of settings from the duo sonata repertoire to large ensembles. Ryo is frequently invited as guest pianist to chamber music festivals across the US, in the capacity of both lecturer and collaborative pianist.

A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist, and is a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association. He was also awarded the Sony Foundation of America Career Grant through the Salon de Virtuosi of New York, and a Washington Award by the SR Foundation of Washington DC. He has also been anartist-in-residence of the Maxwell Shepherd Fund of Connecticut. Ryo is also increasingly recognized not only as a performer but as a pedagogue, and is in demand as adjudicator to competitions and as masterclass clinician in North America and Asia. He has also released two solo CDs consisting of works by Chopin and Debussy, as well as a CD in collaboration with the cellist Dai Miyata in Japan.

Ryo Yanagitani received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. He was an instructor for the Chamber Music Program at Yale, and was a visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He directed the highly acclaimed Evermay Concert Series in Georgetown, and held the position of Artistic Director at the Ryuji Ueno Foundation in Washington DC, an organization that supports highly talented individuals in the field of the performing arts.