Richard Octaviano Kogima/Kojima

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. He has conducted orchestras such as Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Danish National Symphony, Filarmonica Toscanini, NEOJIBA and Gstaad Festival Orchestra, and has been selected for top Conducting Academies such as Gstaad, Järvi and Tonhalle.

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

Richard has recently been awarded at the Toscanini Conducting Competition, where he received the 2nd Prize and the Orchestra Choice Award. A laureate of several international piano competitions, Richard has been awarded the “Nelson Freire Award” at the Geza Anda Piano Competition, 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. 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).