Kenichiro Kojima

Kenichiro Kojima's story is one of turning a setback into a second career. A Tokyo-born pianist who graduated with top honours in Hamburg, he lost the use of his right hand to focal dystonia in 2015, decided to become a conductor, and kept playing as a left-hand pianist. Within a decade he was assisting Kent Nagano at the Hamburg State Opera and taking up a first Kapellmeister post in Germany. That kind of resilience impresses me more than any polished personal brand. If he ever surfaces in a concert hall near you, I'd say go.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Kenichiro Kojima (born June 3, 1991) is a Japanese classical pianist and conductor from Tokyo. After studying at Toride Shoyo High School's music course he completed bachelor's and master's degrees with top honours at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre. When focal dystonia cost him the use of his right hand in 2015, he turned to conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz while performing as a left-hand pianist. He assisted Kent Nagano at the Hamburg State Opera in 2024 and has been first Kapellmeister of the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic and the Neustrelitz State Theatre since the 2024/25 season.

Name (English)

Kenichiro Kojima

Name (Japanese)

児嶋顕一郎

Reading

こじま けんいちろう

Born

June 3, 1991 (age 35)

Origin

Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

Pianist / Conductor

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Goat

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%90%E5%B6%8B%E9%A1%95%E4%B8%80%E9%83%8E
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q61970795

Tags

• Pianist
• Conductor

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.