Kazuhito Yamashita


Kazuhito Yamashita is a Japanese classical guitarist and husband of the composer Keiko Fujiie. His technique and expression are highly acclaimed. By the age of 32, Yamashita had already released 52 albums, including repertoires for solo guitar, guitar concertos, chamber music and collaborations with other renowned musicians such as James Galway. To date, he has released a total of 83 albums.

Musical career

Yamashita began to study the guitar at the age of eight with his father, Toru Yamashita. In 1972, aged eleven, he won the Kyushu Guitar Competition. Four years later, he was awarded First Prize in the All Japan Guitar Competition. In 1977, he won three important international competitions - the Ramirez in Spain, the Alessandria in Italy and Paris Radio France Competition, being the youngest winner ever recorded.
In 1978, Yamashita made his debut in Japan and, in the following year, traveled to Europe. While still in his twenties, he made his first appearances in Canada's Toronto International Guitar Festival and gave a solo recital in the Musikverein in Vienna, he also performed in the US and UK. He gave solo recitals in concert halls around the world including Lincoln Center, Chicago Symphony Center Orchestra Hall, Teatro Olimpico, St. Petersburg Philharmonia Grand Hall, and has performed with a variety of orchestras and conductors in Europe, North America and Asia. In 1989, the Casals Hall in Tokyo, considered to be one of the finest auditoriums in the world, presented a series called The World of Kazuhito Yamashita, comprising seven concerts in 12 months. The high point of the concerts was Castelnuovo-Tedesco's 24 Caprichos de Goya in a single performance. The series concluded with Bach's six sonatas and partitas over two consecutive nights; a recital series was continued in 1994 and 1999.
In addition to solo performances, Yamashita also plays duo, as well as with chamber music ensembles, orchestras and internationally acclaimed artists, such as Leonard Slatkin with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Antoni Ros Marbà, Garcia Navarro, Pedro Halffter, Hiroyuki Iwaki, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta de la RTVE, Claudio Scimone e I Solisti Veneti, James Galway, Gary Karr, Michala Petri, The Tokyo String Quartet etc. In the 4th Santo Tirso International Guitar Festival, held in 1997, he played four guitar concertos in one night with the Cordoba orchestra, conducted by Leo Brouwer. Most recently, he is active in the guitar quartet Kazuhito Yamashita + Bambini. This quartet, consisting of Yamashita and his children, has performed at two international festivals in Italy, the Seoul Art Center in Korea, Portugal, Cordoba Festival in Spain, San Francisco Herbst Theatre and several cities throughout Japan.
Yamashita has made a total of 83 recordings and numerous original arrangements of such works as Mussorgski's Pictures at an Exhibition, Stravinsky's Firebird, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scherezade and Dvořák's Symphony from the New World. He has recorded for BMG, Crown Classics, Japan Victor, King Records and Alfa Records. His recordings include 16 CDs with the complete works of Fernando Sor, and a collection of 5 CDs containing J.S. Bach's sonatas and partitas for violin, cello, lute and flute, all which he himself transcribed for the guitar. His recording of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, released in 1981, was awarded the Deutsches Grammophon Award. His transcriptions of orchestral and virtuostic piano music is also considered by some as controversial.
Yamashita is an enthusiastic proponent of new works for the guitar and has given the world premier of more than 60 new compositions. In this regard, his world premier and presentation of the works of the Japanese composer Keiko Fujiie, his wife, is notable. In 1999, he received the National Arts Festival Grand Prize from the Japanese Government's Agency for Cultural Affairs for his CD recording of Japanese Guitar Music 1923-1948.
Yamashita's early arrangements of Pictures at an Exhibition, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, Dvořák's New World Symphony no. 9 in E Minor, and others, broke boundaries in terms of solo guitar expression and virtuosity.
In 2004 "Kazuhito Yamashita + bambini" was founded by Kazuhito, his two daughters and elder son, to look to the risorgimento of a quintessential and older musical tradition. This recalls a bygone era of both the East and the West when such music was known and valued and whose echoes can still be heard in the classic 11th century novel "The Tale of Genji." In 2010, his younger son joined them and they were renamed "Kazuhito Yamashita Family Guitar Quintet." They have already appeared in festivals in Italy, Cordoba festival in Spain in 2007 and 2011, and have also performed in Portugal, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan and United States.

Discography

1. Romance De Amor RDC-8, BVCC-35128
2. Nocturnal VDC-1220
3. Concerto de Aranjuez VDC-1221
5. Bach: Partita No.2 BWV1004 & Suite No.6 BWV1012 BVCC-2503
6. Pictures at an Exhibition RCCD-1021,RCD14203 BVCC-37291
7. Music of Spain RCL-8301 5913-2-RC, BVCC-35130
8. Beethoven: Concerto in D major for guitar & orchestra op.61 R32C-1014
9. Takemitsu,Watanabe,Yoshimatsu and Noda ALR-28038 BVCC-35132
10. Kazuhito & Naoko Yamashita Guitar Duo No.1 RCL-8348
11. Virtuoso Guitar RCL-8370
12. Sonatas by Turina, Berkeley, Ponce and Torroba RCL-8379
13. Kazuhito & Naoko Yamashita Guitar Duo No.2 RCL-8386
14. Colectici Intim RCL-8398, BVCC-35131
15. The Four Seasons by Vivardi -- Yamashita & Larry Coryell RJCD-107, BVCJ-35033
16. Kazuhito & Naoko Yamashita Guitar Duo No.3 RCL-8409
17. Giuliani,Vivaldi and Carulli played with Chamber orchestra of Leos Janacek
RCCD-1038 5914-2-RC
18. Stravinsky: The Firebird RCCD-1070
19. Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade - duo with Naoko Yamashita RCCD-1071 BVCC-35133
20. Tansman & Ponce R32C-1032
21. Pegasus Effect - Tadaaki Otaka, Tokyo philharmonic orch BVCC-2524
22. Italian Serenade — James Galway & Kazuhito Yamashita R32C-1061,5679-2-RC
23. Concerto de Aranjuez - Orchestre de chambre Jean-Francois Paillard BVCC-2526 BVCC-37279
24. Dvorak : Symphony No.9 "From The New World KICC-60, 7929-2-RC
25. Villa-Lobos: 5 Preludes & 12 Etudes R32C-1116
26-41. Fernando Sor Complete Works for Guitar VDC-14-29
42-43. J.S.Bach: Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin BWV1001-6 CRCC-7001&2, CRCC-8001&2
44. C-Tedesco: "24 Caprichos de Goya" CRCC-6, CRCC-8006
45. C-Tedesco: 3 Guitar Concertos with Leonard Slatkin, London po. BVCC-23, 60355-2-RC, BVCC-35134
46-47 . J.S.Bach: Six Suites for Solo Cello BWV1007-12 CRCC-3&4, CRCC-8003&4
48. Kazuhito Yamashita plays his Favorites CRCC-8, CRCC-20001, CRCC-8007
49. C-Tedesco and Boccherini Quintets - Tokyo String Quartet BVCC-59, 60421-2-RC, BVCC-35135
50. Mozart Opera Arias / Kazuhito & Naoko Yamashita Guitar Duo CRCC-10, CRCC-8008
51. J.S.Bach : Lute Suites and Flute Partita CRCC-12,CRCC-8005
52. J. Galway, K. Yamashita, J. Swensen play Giuliani BVCC-115 BVCC-35136
53-54. C-Tedesco: Platero y Yo - Teresa J.Berganza CRCC-7010&7011
55. Villa-Lobos: 5 Preludes & 12 Etudes BVCC-666
56. Yamashita and Claudio Scimone & I SOLISTI VENETI plays Giuliani and Vivaldi BVCC-692
57. Takashi Yoshimatsu BVCC-673
58. François de Fossa BVCC-719
59. Ponce : 5 Sonatas BVCC-735
60. Alexandre Tansman BVCC-747
61. Keiko Fujiie KYBR-9701
62. Fandanguillo / Spanish Recital BVCC-772
63. Kazuhito Yamashita plays his Favorites 2 CRCC-29
64. Japanese Guitar Music 1923-1948 CRCC-31
65-66. Hey Jude - Yesterday CRCC-7012-3
67. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco CRCC-32
68. Tippett,Walton, Britten and Takemitsu CRCC-33
69. Japanese Guitar Music Vol. 2 CRCC-34
70. J.S.Bach : Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring CRCC-36
71. Keiko Fujiie BVCC-31081
72-73. J.S. Bach: Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin BWV1001-6 BVCC-34115-6
74. Rediscovered 1979 Recording, Invocation et dance, Passacalia, Fandanguillo, Homenaje a la guitarra, Scherzino Mexicano, Fandango Rec. - April & Sept.1979 BVCC-35137
75. Amazing Grace CRCC-37
76. Little Girls’ Beautiful Lives / Koyumi + Kazuhito Yamashita KYBR-0701
77. Kasane - Yamashita family KRBR-0702
78. Little Henny Penny - Yamashita family KYBR-0801
79. Fernando Sor KYBR-1010
80. Kazuhito and Koyumi Yamashita Guitar Duo KYBR-1701
81. Fernando Sor Etudes Anthology Vol.1 KYBR-1703
82. Fernando Sor Etudes Anthology Vol.2 KYBR-1704
83. ''Fernando Sor Etudes Anthology Vol.3 KYBR-1705

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