Yoshinobu Kamei

Yoshinobu Kamei was born in Nagoya City, in Aichi Prefecture. Under the guidance of his father, he began playing clarinet at 9 years old. After graduating from Toho Gakuen Music High School, he moved to France. There, he graduated both the Paul Dukas Conservatoire in Paris, and the Aubervilliers La Courneuve Conservatoire with unanimous highest honors. Recognized by Pierre Boulez, he toured the world as a soloist in the spectacle “TRIPTIK," by the French equestrian opera troupe; Zingaro, for 2 years and 8 months, giving over 300 performances. He returned to Japan in 2003. He is now invited to halls all over the country to give recitals and chamber music concerts. He has also appeared on NHK-FM's "Best of Classics," and NHK-BS's "Classic Club" and "Untitled Concert” shows. Together with pianist Shintaka Suzuki, he also engages in outreach activities as ‘Duo Résonne,’ as the artist for the Regional Creation Public Hall Music Revitalization Support Project. The CDs ‘Rhapsodie,’ ‘Cantabile,’ and ‘Romanze,’ (by Octavia Records) were chosen to be in Record Geijutsu’s charts. He has won the 16th Idemitsu Music Prize, the 2005 Arion Award, and the 2009 Nagoya Music Pen Club Award. He is a professor at Toho Gakuen College, and special principal player for the Pacific Philharmonia Tokyo.