Piano
Education
Keiju studied piano at Levine from 2004-2016 before going on to earn his BM in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. At MSM, he studied with Horacio Gutierrez and Sylvia Rosenberg. He also studied at the Hamamatsu Piano Academy.
As a Performer
Keiju has appeared on the stages of the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Suntory Hall in Japan, and his performances have been featured on Classical WETA 90.9 FM here in DC as well as WQXR 105.9 FM in New York City. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra under Glenn Quader’s baton and collaborated with the contemporary music ensemble BlackBox. Keiju has worked closely with the South Korean composer Jaegone Kim and have premiered many of his works. He also enjoys working with young instrumentalists and has served as an accompanist for the Brooklyn Conservatory and the Juilliard pre-college exams for various instruments.
As a Teacher
Keiju has taught private piano classes in New York, California, and the DC region over the past decade. In New York, he assisted Golda Tatz with her precollege students at the Manhattan School of Music by preparing them for her lessons, working on a variety of solo and concerto repertoire. Many of them won the concerto competition at the Manhattan School of Music, as well as other prizes. He also taught at a music school in Brooklyn where he quickly became familiar with various standardized piano curricula for children, including ABRSM.
At Levine
Keiju is a Levine alumnus and joined our piano faculty in 2024. He is excited to work alongside the musicians who laid the foundations of his career.
Teaching Philosophy
I try to be as attentive as I can to each individual student’s strengths, weaknesses, and psychological states. Thus, when I work with my students, I promote a natural open-dialogue environment by encouraging conversation and rapport. In private lessons, I have the student (and/or parent) collaborate in the dialogue for effective progress.
I focus on efficiency. I strive to convey ideas and solve problems as simply and coherently as I can.
I emphasize playing and learning from the classical canon. I encourage beginning students to perform and reinforce basic music theory (e.g. musical terminologies, note-reading ability, understanding of form). As the student advances to more difficult repertoire, lessons tend to focus on historic and stylistic context, proper and economic technique, and detailed interpretation of the music.