Performances + Events
Pianist JJ Bui ’26 MM won Fourth Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan last month. He performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in the final round. “It’s such a fun piece to play,” Bui said, adding that after four rounds, it was “good to end on a high note.”
“It was really important to me to do well in this competition,” Bui said, explaining that Japan has become a geographic focus of his career. The pianist, who’s from Toronto, Canada, won Sixth Prize at the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland, in 2018. He was just 17. At that competition, Bui played on a Kawai piano. Afterward, the company facilitated opportunities for him across Japan.
Bui said having success in Hamamatsu “was a good way for me to build good relationships in Japan.”
Beyond his performance and achievement in Japan, Bui said he “learned how to handle everything that is thrown at me,” to “keep things in perspective,” and to enjoy and have fun performing. That outlook is one that his teacher, Dang Thai Son, has helped shape.
Now back in Boston, Bui said he’s eager to return to his studies. With the Hamamatsu Competition behind him and the rest of his career ahead, Bui plans to learn new repertoire and focus on growing as a musician.
