Vietnam-Japan piano festival premieres

Young pianists Nguyen Le Binh Anh and Airi Katada will perform at Chu Van An High School on November 27, the Vietnam National Academy of Music on November 28 and the Hanoi Children's Palace on November 29.

Nguyen Le Binh Anh, 16, is among the youngest Vietnamese classical piano talents. Anh received first prize at the Steinway Piano contest in Vietnam in 2011, second prize at the Steinway Regional Final 2012 in Singapore and third prize at the First International Piano Contest in Hanoi in 2010.

In 2011 alone, Anh won the Best Contestant title for the "Championship Intermediate" category (for ages 13-15) at the St George Eidsteddfod in Sydney, Australia, as well as first prize in the "Piano 19th Century" category and second prize in the "Piano Polyphony" category.

Airi Katada, 21, is a student of many famed Japanese pianists including Hiroko Izumi, Koo Ryeong Park, Katsunori Ishii, Reiko Kikuchi and Minoru Nojima. She is now studying at Tokyo Music College.

She has won several prestigious prizes and was one of the top five in the Sendai International Music Competition in 2013. She has played with many world-class orchestras in Japan, Poland and Russia.

Japanese pianist Ayuko Higuchi, who will act as a consultant for the festival, is a successful pianist in Japan who has won several prestigious prizes and certificates of merit from the Japanese Education Minister. She has delivered outstanding performances in many nations including the US and France and played at the 2008 Vietnam Festival accompanied by Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito.

She has performed 40 shows in Vietnam since 2004 to raise funds for underprivileged children. Later this year, Ayuko will organise other piano shows in Tokyo, Yokohama, Tohoku and Hanoi.