3rd Award
Tomohiro Ishii - violinist, composer. Born in Tokyo in 1994, he started playing violin at the age of four.
He has won many national and international prizes in classical music competitions.
He was inspired by the Polish jazz scene and switched to jazz violin while attending Tokyo University of the Arts.
Tomohiro started composing as a student. In 2015, he founded his own record label, Mi Mi Mi Records, on which he released a series of albums with homemade DIY packaging/artwork.
He graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2017. Since then, he has worked on everything from film music to pop arrangements for major scenes.
Tomohiro is the co-founder of the LESS IS MORE String Quartet. Their unique and original music, which blends classical music and jazz, has attracted a great deal of attention in Japan and abroad.
Tomohiro, son of jazz pianist Akira Ishii, has been exploring the possibilities of improvisation with the violin. In recent years, he has collaborated with improvisers and jazz musicians such as Fumio Yasuda and Joachim Badenhorst.