Minoru Nojima

Minoru Nojima (b. 23rd May 1945, Yokosuka, Kanagawa - d. 9 May 2022)) was a renowned Japanese classical pianist. He served as the Tokyo College of Music president, a Piano Professor at Toho Gakuen School Of Music, and the Managing Committee Chairperson for Sendai International Music Competition. Nojima also adjudicated the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Queen Elisabeth Competition, and other prestigious international contests. Nojima began studying piano under Aiko Iguchi when he was three. While attending Toho Gakuen School Of Music, ten-year-old Minoru gave a debut public performance with NHK Symphony Orchestra. A series of subscription concerts with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra soon followed, solidifying Nojima's career as a child prodigy. From 1966 till 1968, Minoru Nojima studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Lev Oborin on the USSR Ministry of Culture invitation. In 1969, Nojima won the second prize at the 3rd Van Cliburn Competition. He gave the critically-acclaimed American debut at Carnegie Hall the following year. While residing in New York, Minoru Nojima further continued piano studies under Constance Keene and Abram Chasins. In Japan, Nojima continued to perform with the nation's foremost orchestras, including the New Japan Philharmonic, The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and Gunma Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with numerous distinguished conductors, such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, and Charles Dutoit. Nojima's recorded output is scant, especially for an artist of such a caliber. Shortly after his Carnegie Hall debut in 1969, Minoru released Piano Recital on Angel Records, featuring Variations On A Theme By Paganini by Johannes Brahms and Liszt's piano works. In 1984, he recorded Teizo Matsumura's Piano Concerto No. 1 / Piano Concerto No. 2, both dedicated to Mr. Nojima, for RCA Victor. (He premiered Piano Concerto No. 2 live in Moscow, Paris, London, and New York.) Nojima also issued a premiere recording of Michio Mamiya's Piano Concerto No. 2 and 2nd Piano Sonata on Toshiba/EMI (re-released in 1993 by Fontec). His best-known albums, (1987) and '90 , came out on US audiophile label Reference Recordings. Curiously, one of the pieces from Nojima Plays Liszt appeared on Joyce Hatto's plagiarized album, Liszt's "Transcendental Etudes" (Concert Artist, CACD 90842), released by her husband William Barrington-Coupe.