Concerts

Chamber Music Project

[Notice of Cancellation]
Akiko Suwanai Chamber Music Projects,
Akiko Plays CLASSIC & MODERN with Friends

TokyoDate: 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, 2020…Akiko Plays CLASSIC with Friends
ToykoDate: 7:00 p.m., Friday, March 13, 2020…Akiko Plays MODERN with Friends
at Kioi Hall　MAP

[Notice of Cancellation]

Pre-concert talk: Friday, March 13, 18:45
Moderator: Yuji Numano (musicologist)

※Talks by performing artists are planned for both days.

[Performers]
Akiko Suwanai, Violin / Artistic Director of International
Svetlin Roussev, Violin
Ryo Sasaki, Viola
Henri Demarquette, Cello
Markus Groh, Piano

Program

［Akiko Plays CLASSIC with Friends］Wednesday, March 11, 2020
J.S. Bach: "Chaconne" from Violin Partita No. 2 D minor, BWVI004
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 3 Op.1011
Dvorak: Piano Quintet No. 2 Op.81

［Akiko Plays MODERN with Friends］Friday, March 13, 2020
Pre-concert talk: Friday, 18:45
Moderator: Yuji Numano (musicologist)
Steve Reich: Violin Phase ＜1967＞
Osamu Kawakami: Excerpts from Suite "Carapace" ＜2005＞
Marc-Andre Dalbavie: Piano Trio ＜2008＞
Leo Ornstein: Piano Quintet No. 2 ＜1927＞

Performers

Akiko Suwanai (Violin / Artistic Director of International)

Akiko Suwanai was the youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990. She has performed with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and Berlin Philharmonic, under the batons of Ozawa, Maazel, Dutoit, and Sawallisch, just to name a few. She has appeared in numerous international music festivals including the BBC Proms, Schleswig-Holstein, Lucerne and others. In 2018, Akiko Suwanai participated in Marth Argerich’s chamber music festival in Hamburg, the Rosendal Festival with Leif Ove Andsnes, and the Bratislava Music Festival, and performed with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and Staatskapelle Dresden. She also performed with Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin in Berlin and Japan in February and March 2019. Suwanai was a jury member of the violin divisions of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium in 2012 and 2015, and of the Concours International Long-Thibaud-Crespin in 2018. Since 2012, Akiko Suwanai has been Artistic Director of the International Music Festival NIPPON, which she plans and produces. She has released 14 CDs on the Decca label.
Akiko Suwanai studied at Toho Gakuen Music High School and completed the Soloists’ Diploma Course of Toho Gakuen College of Music. After studying at the Juilliard School and Columbia University on the Artist Overseas Training program sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, she received a master’s degree in Music from the Juilliard School. She also studied at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Akiko Suwanai performs on the Stradivarious “Dolphin” violin from 1714, which has been loaned to her by the Nippon Music Foundation.

Svetlin Roussev（Violin）

Born in Bulgaria, Svetlin Roussev has won numerous prizes at many international competitions, including Indianapolis, Long-Thibaud and Melbourne. At the Sendai International Music Competition he also garnered the audience prize and the Best Bach concerto performance. He is concertmaster of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.In his home country, Svetlin Roussev is Artistic Director and Artist in Residence of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. He enjoys an established reputation as a charismatic violin virtuoso. He has performed as a soloist under the batons of conductors such as Myung-Whun Chung and Yehudi Menuhin, and is a highly appreciated chamber music partner of musicians including Jean-Marc Luisada and Eric Lesage.

Ryo Sasaki（Viola）

Principal violist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Ryo Sasaki holds degrees from Tokyo University of the Arts and The Juilliard School. He was a winner of the Ataka Prize. In 1991, he won 1st prize and the Asahi Contemporary Music Prize at the Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Japan. In ’92, he was awarded 2nd prize in the Tokyo International Chamber Music Competition (Min-On) and the Lufthansa Prize. From autumn that year, Sasaki attended The Juilliard School in New York as a scholarship student. He also performed in the Aspen and Marlboro music festivals. After graduating, Sasaki performed throughout the United States as both a soloist and chamber musician. He has collaborated with such renowned musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, Hilary Hahn, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Lynn Harrell. Currently he is teaching the next generation of musicians at Toho Gakuen School of Music, Senzoku Gakuen, and the high school attached to Tokyo University of the Arts.

Henri Demarquette（Cello）

Born in Paris in 1970, Henri Demarquette enrolled in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris at the age of 13, where he studied with Gendron, Fournier, and Tortelier. He went on to study with Starker in the United States.
At age 17, Demarquette made his recital debut at the Théâtre du Châtelet. A prize winner of many competitions, including the Rostropovich International Cello Competition, Henri Demarquette also regularly performs contemporary music. Widely recognized for his nuanced expression, he has recorded many CDs including an album of French music performed with Brigitte Engerer.
Henri Demarquette plays the “le Vaslin” cello made by Stradivarius in 1725 and loaned by the LVMH Foundation, with a “Persois” bow dated 1820.

Markus Groh（Piano）

Pianist Markus Groh gained immediate world attention after winning the Queen Elisabeth International Competition in 1995, the first German to do so. Since then his remarkable “sound imagination” and astonishing technique, have confirmed his place among the finest pianists in the world.
During the current season, Mr. Groh made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica under Carl St. Clair, performing the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1. Later this season, he returns to the U.S. on tour with the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet, in the Morgan Library Chamber Music Series. In 2018/2019, he will make debuts with the Pacific Symphony and the National Symphony of Colombia, as well as return appearances with the Omaha Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica.
Markus Groh has also appeared with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, National/Washington, D.C., the New York Philharmonic, Omaha, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver, among others. Worldwide engagements include the Beijing Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Residentie Orkest/The Hague, Helsinki Philharmonic, London Symphony, Malmö Symphony, MDR Orchestra/Leipzig Gewandhaus, New Japan Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, to name a few.
A spellbinding recitalist, Mr. Groh draws from the piano shapes, textures, and colors that one seldom hears in live performance. In addition to his stunning debut on the Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center in 2013, he has appeared at the Friends of Chamber Music series in Denver and Kansas City, the Vancouver Recital Society, and several times at The Frick Collection in New York. Chamber music activities include regular tours with the Tokyo String Quartet and the newly-founded Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet.
Widely acclaimed for his interpretations of Liszt, Markus Groh was a student of Professor Konrad Richter in Stuttgart and Professor Hans Leygraf in Berlin and Salzburg. He has recently been named Professor of Piano at the University of the Arts in Berlin.

How to Purchase Tickets

Tokyo

[Purchase tickets]
Tickets can be purchased either by phone or online.

Two-Day Ticket [for both concerts]

S
¥12,000
A
¥8,500

*Two-Day tickets are available only through the Japan Arts Pia Call Center.

One-Day Ticket

S
¥8,000
A
¥5,500

Telephone

Japan Arts Pia Call Center　0570－00－1212

(Open 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. daily, except in the New Year holiday period)
*To order from the call center, you must be able to provide a mailing address
in Japan or pick up the tickets at a convenience store in Japan.