Born in Sapporo in 1949. He studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Master) with DATE Jun and MATSUURA Toyoaki. He was a finalist at the Japan National Music Competition in 1969, and received the Ataka Prize in 1971, and the Kreutzer Prize in 1973.
He continued his studies at Hochschule Für Musik Detmold and Universität der Künste Berlin with Klaus Schilde between 1975 and 1979. He won the 2nd Grand Prize at the Concours International "Long - Thibaud - Ville de Paris" in 1977. He attended the lectures on Beethoven by Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Italy in 1978.
He has given numerous concerts in Japan, China, Europe and other countries. Besides innumerable recitals, he performed as a soloist with the NHK Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Sapporo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, the Kyushu Symphony, Berliner Sinfonie, Deutsche Bachsolisten and many others. He currently plays chamber music with some of the best-known musicians.
Between 1986 to 2005, he carried out a total of 27 stages of the "UEDA Katsumi Beethoven Series". He played a wide variety of pieces at the series of recitals such as piano sonatas, variations, chamber music and Lieder. He began his concert series called gKatsumi Ueda Composer Seriesh in 2007.
He has served as a jury member of national and international music competitions including the Sendai International Music Competition, Cologne International Piano Competition, and the Music Competition of Japan. He also taught master classes in Kanazawa, Japan, and Leipzig, Germany etc.
He is Dean of Faculty, Professor, Faculty of music at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.
