Japanese Pianists Win 1st, 4th Prizes in Paris Contest

Paris, Nov. 13 (Jiji Press)--Japanese artists won the first and fourth prizes in the piano category of the Long-Thibaud-Crespin international music competition in Paris on Sunday.

The first prize went to Masaya Kamei, 20, and the fourth to Kotaro Shigemori, 22. Kamei shared the first prize with South Korea's Lee Hyuk, 22.

"I enjoyed my performance. I was happy," Kamei, from Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, said after the award ceremony.

"I'm starting to feel gradually (that I've won)," Kamei said. "I'm happy since I've been working hard for this competition. I want to keep growing."

After studying for two years in the music department of the Aichi prefectural Meiwa high school, he entered Toho Gakuen College Music Department at the age of 17, becoming the first to join the institution by skipping a grade. He is a senior student at the college.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]