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The Japanese bass-baritone, Kento Uchiyama (Japanese: 内山 建人), graduated from the Graduate School of Kyoto City University of Arts (Bachelor of Arts degree in Singing; April 2010-March 2014; Master of Arts degree in Singing: April 2014-March 2016); and the Department of Opera at the Universität der Künste Berlin (Master of Arts degree in Opera: April 2020-March 2023). While still in school, he made his operatic debut as Marquis de Daubigny in La Traviata of the Kansai Opera Company and Dr. Kayus in The Merry Wives of Windsor in Kansai Nikikai. He received the Brandenburg European Prize and the Kyoto Mayor's Prize. He studied singing with Professor Albert Pesendorfer at the Universität der Künste Berlin and attended master-classes with Thomas Hampson, Margreet Honig, Laura Aikin and Friedemann Röhlig, among others. He also received important musical inspiration from Roman Trekel and Ulrike Sonntag. He is a scholarship holder of the Lotte Lehmann Academy Perleberg and Croatian Opera Academy. He is an overseas dispatch trainee of the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
From April 2016 to March 2019, Kento Uchiyama was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Theater Biwako/Japan, where he appeared, among others, as Leporello in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni (September 2018), H. Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (May 2018), as Sancho Panza in Massenet's Don Quichotte (August 2016), and as Caporal in La fille du regiment (February 2017). In Europe, he sang the title role in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in Berlin (July 2022) and Croatia (August 2022), played the role of Achior in Betulia Liberated by the Ucker Oper, and was involved in many W.A. Mozart performances such as the bass solo in Requiem. He made his debut at the Berliner Konzerthaus as Ubaldo in the world premiere of Donizetti's Dalinda by the Berliner Operngruppe (May 2023)). His other repertoire includes Colline in La Bohème, title role in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore, Marquis d'Obigny in La Traviata and Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Kento Uchiyama also devotes himself to contemporary music. He is a finalist in the Paula Salomon-Lindberg competition “Das Lied” and sang the role of Nathan in the contemporary opera Georgia Bottoms by the Hungarian composer Gregory Vajda in Berlin (July 2021).
As a concert singer, Kento Uchiyama has performed successfully at opera gala concerts in Romania and in Germany with L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, W.A. Mozart's Requiem soloist, J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245 and Georg Philipp Telemann's Matthew Passion. He will also give a performance of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin in Berlin. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany. |
