Yamashita, Kazuhito

(b Nagasaki City, 25 March 1961).
Japanese guitarist.

He began studying the guitar at the age of eight with his father, Toru Yamashita, at the Nagasaki Guitar Academy, and continued with Kojiro Kobune. He captured international attention while still in his mid-teens, winning the All-Japan Guitar Competition in 1976; in 1977 he won the Ramirez competition in Spain and the Alessandria competition in Italy, and was the youngest person ever to win the Concours International de Guitare in Paris. There quickly followed concert appearances in Tokyo (1978), Amsterdam (1979) and the Toronto Guitar Festival (1984), at which he performed his guitar transcription of Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition to tumultuous acclaim. He later transcribed, performed and recorded other works, including Stravinsky’s Firebird suite, and Dvoøák’s ‘New World’ Symphony for solo guitar. He has also performed and published Beethoven’s Violin Concerto arranged for guitar and orchestra. His own work for solo guitar, Imaginary Forest, was published in 1982. Never reluctant to undertake large-scale projects, Yamashita recorded the complete works of Fernando Sor on 16 CDs and transcriptions of Bach’s sonatas, partitas and suites for unaccompanied flute, violin, cello and lute. He performs with phenomenal concentration, a technique which is as secure as it is virtuosic and a range of sound (in particular a dynamic range) which is arguably without equal.