Kyohei Sorita rose to national prominence overnight in 2012 when he won First Prize, the Audience Prize, and three additional special prizes at the 81st Japan Music Competition. He subsequently studied at Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. In 2016, he gave a triumphant recital in a sold-out Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

In August 2025, Sorita will make his debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchestra. He will be the first Japanese pianist since Mitsuko Uchida in 1989 to appear as a soloist at the festival—and the first Japanese artist ever in the history of the Salzburg Festival to appear in a dual role as both soloist and conductor. This concert, part of the official festival program, follows his sensational debut with the Mozarteum Orchestra in 2024 and marks the beginning of a multi-year collaboration.

This season, Sorita returns to Warsaw for the “Chopin and His Europe” festival and appears with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria and the Munich Philharmonic, who immediately re-invited him after his debut in 2023. At the end of the year, Sorita will go on tour with members of the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Photo: Shumpei Ohsugi