Takejiro Hirai

About Takejiro Hirai

Takejiro Hirai ist he younger son of noted Japanese composer Professor Kozaburo Hirai. He began his musical education at an early age under his father’s tutelage, studying piano, composition and conducting, and at the age of ten performed his own composition, “Theme and Variations for Piano”, in a broadcast over NHK, the Japanese national radio network. Following his graduation from Tokyo University of Arts, Takejiro Hirai came to the United States for further study in piano at The Juilliard School with Sascha Gorodnitzki. Here he won the competition for perform Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra. He is also winner of the Viotti International Piano Competition of Italy. He made his U. S. debut in Washington, D. C., and New York in 1973, which won the highest critic acclaim. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts (D. M. A.) degree in piano from Juilliard in 1974. His doctoral thesis was entitled “John Field – Pioneer of Romantic Piano Music.”
Takejiro Hirai has appeared with orchestras, in recitals and in chamber music concerts in Japan, Europe and the United States. During the years 1967 and 1971 he made extensive tours in Europe.
He had been a professor of piano at the Osaka College of Music (1977-1991). Since 1991, he is a professor of piano at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Tokyo Geidai). He is also known as a composer of piano music, art songs and chamber music.