Shintaro Kawahara

* I made some more availabilities on my lesson callender but they are not definitive since I have concerts or rehearsals sometimes in the evenings sometimes or I need to practice for myself. It will be great if somebody can fill the slot 20:00-21:00 on tuesdays at Hooftskade (with NewYork Steinway D) every week.  Semi professionals or serious amateurs are very welcome.

First of all, I am glad that you found my information here. I'm not pleased that I often find some very bad amateurs try to fake themselves as they are professional pianist or teacher. They display themself fancy as they want since this labor isn't required a certification when it's private lessons. Beginners can not really decide if they are good or not. It is risky for motivated students. I have got some students through this site after having lessons by those fake teachers and I had to do so much work to re-start from the beginning with them.

Personally I was struggling to play the piano as well due to my first piano teacher who couldn't teach me properly at all. Several years later, I had rare luck to found better teachers who have certain experiences as concert pianists. I started trying to get rid of my bad behaviors and rebuild new technique over 10 years on the piano. It takes so much time to get rid of.. It was tough work but now I can really tell you what it was and you can see some results on my videos here. I got very conscious of using my body proper way while practicing and  I got more flexibilities on the piano. Let me share what I can do with you.

Shintaro Kawahara is considered as a unique pianist as performing modern and historical pianos parallel. He spent his childhood and student years in Japan. He already got the fırst prizes at several known national piano competitions in Japan while he was studying in Kyoto city University of Arts. At the year of his master graduation, he gave a solo recital in Kyoto and his recital was considered as one of the best performances of over 200 concerts in the year by the AOYMA Music Foundation. He earned The AOYAMA Music Awards in 2010 and graduated master of piano performance in KCUA with summa cum laude. He continued his career as a soloist with several professional orchestras in Japan. Some of those concerts were broadcasted on TV and radio. Shintaro continued studying the piano in Lucerne conservatory with Konstantin Lifschitz supported by Hella Siegrist Fonds and AOYMA Music Foundation. He performed the Left hand concerto by Ravel with Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and James Gaffigan in KKL Lucerne Concert Hall in 2014.

"a Brilliant pianist with solid technique and sensitivities" - Luzerner Zeitung 2014

“Elegantly and with creative power, Shintaro Kawahara presented Mozart's Piano Concerto in E-flat Major KV 449, the layers of sound always audible, the dynamics balanced. It was surprising that the jury awarded him second prize. “ - Freiburger Nachrichten 2015

At the same time, his interests carried forward him to play chamber music, Lied duo, and historical practices on historical fortepianos. He received the first prize at Orpheus-Swiss Chamber Music Competition participated by master students of all Swiss conservatories in 2014, and the second prize at The Rotary International in Lugano. Shintaro moved to Netherlands in 2015, and he completed his master of fortepiano (historical pianos) in The Hague Royal Conservatory. He has worked as an accompanist and ensemble pianist for Rotterdam Philharmonic orchestra, Opera2day, Residentie Orkest in Den Haag, Noord Nederlands Orkest. He also performed Brahms “Deutsch Requiem” with Shuann Chai on historical piano and Luthers Bach Choir on the tour in 2020, "Mad King" by Maxwell Davies in New European Ensemble on the tour in 2021, chamber music concert with François Fernandez and Yun Kyung Kim at the Beethoven Festival in 2022.

Shintaro was a member of New European Ensemble for new opera “Don Quichot” by Vanni Moretto (composer) and Stefano Pintor (Librettist) collaborated with Opera2day and La Fonte Musica in the tour 2023. He was involved in three different opera projects "Die Zauberflöte", "Dark forest", "Apocalyps (Bach) collaborated by Theateralliantie, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam and Netherlands Bach Society in 2024.

After spending 3 years in Switzerland, I relocated myself to The Hague. I studied fortepiano in master of early music in Royal Conservatoire and I worked as a teacher there later.

Apart from giving concerts and teaching, I have worked as an ensemble pianist with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Noord Nederland Orkest, New European Ensemble.

I'd prefer to teach how to read notes first with understanding music.

I hope my students would get passionate and spontaneous to make them understand what I give. Doesn’t matter with ages, levels. I have been teaching from 6 years old kid to advanced students who are going to competitions (national, international) and adults for their hobby.

I always start reading notes and rhythm properly

depends of each level of you guys and I'm always flexible with students's needs but the most important thing is keep practicing everyday even for five minutes!

Please describe about yourself and your relationship with piano or musical experiences when you write me first time. I need to know what you expect with me then I can make trial lesson. I do not prefer to be booked without having it. 

Let op!

the availabilities do NOT always stay as they are on the calendar. You need to ask me before bookings.