Richard Octaviano Kogima is a Brazilian conductor and pianist currently based in Switzerland. A foremost rising artist of his generation, Richard has performed throughout Brazil, United States and Europe in venues such as Tonhalle Zürich, Salle Cortot Paris, DR Koncerthuset Copenhagen and Sala São Paulo. A pivotal moment in his musical development was receiving a personal invitation by Herbert Blomstedt to accompany him in a 6 weeks tour with leading American orchestras. The opportunity to learn closely from Mr. Blomstedt during this period shaped his development in countless and longlasting ways. Since then, he enjoyed successful debuts in his homeland such as conducting the season opening of the Neojiba Orchestra among other prominent orchestras. In 2023 Richard was an active participant at the Järvi Academy in Estonia. In 2024 he reached the quarterfinals of the Malko Competition where he conducted the Danish National Symphony and was selected for the Tonhalle Conductors Academy with Paavo Järvi, where he conducted the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich. A laureate of several international piano competitions, Richard has been awarded the “Nelson Freire Award” at the Geza Anda Piano Competition in 2021, as well as 1st Prizes at the Concours Flame (Paris), Landolt Competition and KIWANIS Chamber Music Competition Zürich. He trained as a pianist with Konstantin Scherbakov at the Zurich University of Arts and studied choir conducting with Markus Utz. He holds a Diplome Superieur from Ecole Normal de Musique de Paris (class of Guigla Katsarava) and a Bachelor Degree from Universidade de São Paulo (class of Eduardo Monteiro).