Akiko Suwanai（Artistic Director of International Music Festival NIPPON / Violin）

Praised by The Times for her “noble playing, with its rhythmic life, taut and rigorous,” Japanese violinist Akiko Suwanai was the youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990. Since then she has enjoyed a flourishing international career and appears regularly with celebrated maestros and foremost orchestras across the globe.

This season Akiko Suwanai debuts at Opéra National de Paris, performing the choreographed version of Salonen’s violin concerto. On this occasion Opéra Bastille sees a series of 13 ballet performances staged by Saburo Teshigawara and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Other 2017/18 highlights include season opening with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla and John Axelrod, as well as returns to Orchestre de Paris for Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with Paavo Järvi, and Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai for Salonen’s Violin Concerto with Jonathan Webb. Suwanai returns to the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse with Tugan Sokhiev.

In recent years, Akiko Suwanai has established collaborations with Bamberger Symphoniker and Detroit Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin. She performed in Russia with Valery Gergiev and The Mariinsky Orchestra, in Hong Kong with Hong Kong Philharmonic and Lawrence Foster, in Germany with Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and François-Xavier Roth, and in the US with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Pablo Heras-Casado.

Akiko Suwanai is the Artistic Director of the International Music Festival NIPPON which she launched in 2012, offering a variety of orchestral and chamber music concerts, master classes and regular charity concerts for the Great East Japan Earthquake. The Festival also organizes World/Japanese premieres and commissions new works by international composers.

Akiko Suwanai performs on the “Charles Reade” Guarneri del Gesu violin c1732, on long-term loan from Dr. Ryuji Ueno, who has Japanese roots and living in the US.

2020/21 season only.

Sascha Goetzel（Conductor）

Born in Vienna.Goetzel trained as a violinist and began his studies with Richard Österricher and Jorma Panula. He furthered his education in the United States, working with Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Andre Previn, Zubin Mehta and Bernhard Haitink.

Goetzel is announced as the orchestra’s new Music Director of the Orchestra National des Pays de la Loire beginning in September 2022, for a four-year term and was named new Music Director of the NYO-CANADA starting with January 1, 2022. He is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of Sofia Philharmonic.

Goetzel has served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest conductor of Kanagawa Philharmonic Bretagne Symphony Orchestra, and principal conductor of Orchestra Kuopio Symphony in Finland.

In opera, debuted to great acclaim in autumn of 2014 with the Wiener Staatsoper in Le Nozze di Figaro and then re-engagement to conduct six more operas including Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, Zauberflote, La Boheme and Rosenkavalier in addition to conduct various Mozart Opera productions at the Marrinsky Theatre and the Opernhaus Zürich.

Goetzel’s conducting recent guest engagements include the Israel Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Orchestre National de France, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Kioi Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.

Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra have released several award-winning albums on the Deutsche Grammophon Onyx, and Warner labels featuring works by Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov, Respighi, Hindemith and Schmitt.

March 23, 2022

Benjamin Schmid（Violin）

Since his debut at the Salzburg Festival as solo partner of Sir Yehudi Menuhin in 1986, Benjamin Schmid has become one of the most important violinists of our time with his worldwide, always intensive concert activity in about 3000 live concerts.
The victory of the Carl Flesch Competition in London in 1992, where he was also awarded the Mozart, the Beethoven and the Audience Prize, brought the international breakthrough for the violinist Benjamin Schmid, who comes from Vienna, in addition to other competition prizes.
Since then he has appeared on the world's most important stages with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Petersburg Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandthaus Orchestra and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.

His brilliant technique, the clarity and passion of his expression, his soloistic charisma, the extraordinary range of his repertoire - in addition to all the standard works, he also plays, for example, the violin concertos by Wolf Ferrari, Gulda, Korngold, Elgar, Weill, Dutilleux or Weinberg - and, beyond that, his improvisational skills in jazz make him a violinist with a unique profile.

A continuously award-winning focus of his repertoire is the violin works of W. A. Mozart: Benjamin Schmid is the winner of the Carl Flesch Mozart Prize in London, the EchoKlassik Prize, the Opus Klassik Prize and several times the winner of the Swiss Radio SFR's Interpreter Comparison, each time with Mozart. He has published Mozart violin sonatas for Henle Verlag, premiered the reconstructed Fantasia in C minor for violin and piano with Robert Levin, co-edited the "Neue Violinschule" by Leopold Mozart and received the Paumgartner Medal of the Mozarteum Foundation.
In 2023 Benjamin Schmid now presents Mozart's violin concertos Nrs. 3-5 before on CD; and also with his partner orchestra Musica Vitae Sweden 3 jazz violin concertos by composers Sabina Hank, Herbert Berger and Friedrich Gulda.
Of Benjamin Schmid's more than 60 CDs, some have been awarded the Opus Klassik Prize (several times) , several times the German Record Prize (as the only violinist in the classical and jazz categories), the Echo Klassik Prize, Grammophone Editor's Choice or the Strad Selection. In addition to recordings of the standard repertoire of violin concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski or Brahms, his award-winning new discoveries of the violin concertos by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ermanno Wolf Ferrari, Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Friedrich Gulda (violin and cello concerto) , György Ligeti, Nicolo Paganini – Kreisler, and Max Reger.

On the occasion of his 50th birthday OehmsClassics released "Benjamin Schmid Complete OehmsClassics Recordings" (20 CD Box).
Benjamin Schmid also attaches exceptional importance to his new recording of Georg Breinschmid's String Quartet (2022). 2023 will see the launch of Georg Breinschmid's "Concerto for Beni Schmid" with his "own" orchestra Musica Vitae.
Highlights of the current season include guest performances in Madrid , RTVE Orchestra (Szymanowski Concerto) , Festspielhaus Salzburg (Paganini Concerto) , Bregenz Festival with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (Bacewicz Concerto) , Musikverein Vienna (Beethoven Concerto) , a Japan tour, Prokofieff concert in Singapore and Brahms concert in the USA, Schumann concert with the Beethoven Philharmonic Orchestra, various programs and tours with the orchestra Musica Vitae, orchestra tours with Jazztrio, 2 Kronberg Festival appearances a. a. with the HR Bigband, Mozartfest Würzburg, Trasimeno Music Festival, Diabelli Sommer Mattsee and guest performances with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

Benjamin Schmid has appeared several times with the Vienna Philharmonic in TV concerts broadcast worldwide: with Seiji Ozawa at the Salzburg Festival or with Valery Gergiev at the Schönbrunn Summer Night Concert; both have been released on CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft and OehmsClassics. Several documentary films about Benjamin Schmid, broadcast worldwide, complete the violinist's exceptional standing.

In Salzburg, Austria, where he lives with his wife, the pianist Ariane Haering, and their four children together, Benjamin Schmid dedicates himself as a professor and mentor to his students at the Mozarteum University, here he was awarded the "International Prize for Art and Culture", among others. In addition, he gives masterclasses worldwide, was professor and at the Hochschule der Künste Bern/CH and serves as jury chairman of the International Mozart Competition Salzburg as well as the Leopold Mozart Competition Augsburg.
As Artistic Director of the ClassixKempten music festival in Germany, he is responsible for a critically and audience acclaimed concert week in September that aims to present first-rate as well as rare chamber music and jazz concerts.
Beginning with the 2020 season, Benjamin Schmid has been appointed Artistic Director of the Musica Vitae chamber orchestra in Växjö, Sweden, where he is also planning a program distinguished by classical and jazz influences, while also planning first CD recordings of new works written for Benjamin Schmid.
Finally, Benjamin Schmid is also artistic director of the orchestra Salzburger Orchester Solisten (SAOS) , with whom music of the 20th century is in the foreground.

Benjamin Schmid is portrayed as one of the most important violinists in the book "The Great Violinists of the 20th Century," by Jean-Michel Molkou (published by Buchet-Chastel, 2014).

He performs on the "ex Viotti 1718" Stradivarius violin, which was donated to him by the Austrian National Bank Foundation, as well as on a modern violin made in 2015 by Wiltrud Fauler.

www.benjaminschmid.com

Ayana Tsuji（Violin）

Ayana Tsuji is one of the most promising young violinists of Japan. Born in Gifu in 1997, she started the violin at age 3. She was awarded First Prize at the 2016 Montreal International Competition, together with five other prizes (the Best performance of the compulsory Canadian work, the Best semifinal recital, the Best performance of a Sonata in the semifinal round, the Bach Award and the Paganini Award).　

Ayana Tsuji has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Montreal, NHK, Tokyo Metropolitan, Tokyo, Kyoto symphony orchestras ; Czech, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka philharmonic orchestras ; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sinfonia Varsovia, Musica Viva…

Ayana Tsuji is also active as recitalist and chamber musician, and has performed with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Akira Eguchi, Kei Itoh, Emmanuel Strosser, Edicson Ruiz.

Ayana Tsuji graduated from the Tokyo College of Music, where she has studied with Kenji Kobayashi, Toshiko Yaguchi, Kimiko Nakazawa, Machie Oguri, Koichi Harada and Régis Pasquier.

Ayana Tsuji has recorded violin concertos by Charles-Auguste Bériot with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra at Naxos. Her debut CD with Warner Classics, featuring a selection of pieces from the recording of her performance at the 2016 Montreal Competition. In 2018, she received the 28th Idemitsu Music Award.

Highlights of the 2020/2021 season, she will play La Folle Journée de Nantes and Tokyo, Osaka philharmonic with Mo. Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Tokyo symphony with Mo. Jonathan Nott, Sapporo symphony with Mo. Tadaaki Otaka, Japan philharmonic with Mo. Alexander Lazarev, Yamagata symphony with Mo. Tetsuro Ban…

Ayana Tsuji plays a Joannes Baptista Guadagnini 1748, on loan from the Yellow Angel NPO Corporation.
As of March 2020

Lina Nakano（Violin）

Lina Nakano quickly gained attention by winning consecutive first prizes at the 2021 Japan Music Competition and the 2022 Sendai International Music Competition. It led to the launch of her career as a soloist. She is currently enrolled in the Soloist Diploma Course at Toho Gakuen School of Music and is a 2023 ROHM Music Foundation scholarship student. She performs on a generously loaned 1716 Stradivarius violin provided by the ITOH Foundation.

Kyoko Yonemoto（Violin）

At the age of 13, Kyoko Yonemoto became the youngest-ever prizewinner at the 1997 Paganini　Competition in Italy. She later received numerous prizes including first prize in the Paganini　Moscow International Competition. In addition to appearing with major orchestras inside and　outside Japan, Yonemoto has earned high praise as a chamber musician. She is currently a　professor at the Maastricht Conservatorium in the Netherlands. Her CD Ysaÿe: Complete Sonatas　for Violin received the Excellence Award a recipient of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Kyoko　Yonemoto plays a 1727 Stradivarius violin, on loan from the Suntory Foundation for Arts.

Ryo Sasaki（Viola）

Yasuhiro Suzuki（Viola）

Shotaro Nakamura（Viola）

Jens-Peter Maintz（Cello）

Haruma Sato（Cello）

In 2019, he became the first Japanese to win the first prize (violoncello) at the ARD International Music Competition Munich, and in 2018, he won the first prize and a special prize at the Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition.
He has performed with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and other major orchestras in Japan and abroad, and has received favorable reviews for his recitals and chamber music.
Since his debut album in 2020, he has released 3 CDs on Deutsche Grammophon.

Rei Tsujimoto（Cello）

Hiroshi Ikematsu（Contrabass）

Paul Meyer（Clarinet）

Paul Meyer divides his activities between conducting, solo recitals and chamber music.

Appointed associate conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra by Myung Whun Chung himself, from 2006 to 2012, Paul Meyer conducted over thirty symphonic programs and, in collaboration with the Music Director, established an Orchestral Academy designed to prepare young musicians for orchestral discipline. In 2009, Paul Meyer was appointed Principal Conductor of the Kosei Orchestra in Tokyo, with which he explores contemporary repertoire and gives concerts in Tokyo (Tokyo Opera City), as well as touring in Japan and abroad.

This season, Paul Meyer will conduct the following orchestras : Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Danish Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Niederösterreich, Prague Philharmonic, Skopje Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Württembergisches Kammerorchester, the Tokyo Kosei Orchestra… His career as a soloist has taken him to Tokyo, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, as well as the Concertgebouw and Salle Pleyel in Paris. He will also be premiering concertos by Thierry Escaich and Edith Canat de Chizy.

In recent seasons, Paul Meyer has conducted the following orchestras:

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Marseille, Orchestre de Bordeaux, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Bretagne, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipeh Symphonic Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Taïpeh, Sinfonia Varsovia, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonietta de Lisboa, Orcestra Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, Russian National Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburger Sinfoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, Graz Symphony Orchestra, … .

English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Stuttgart Kammerorchester, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Münchener Kammerorchester, Orchestre de chambre de Genève, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, … .

As a soloist Paul Meyer has performed with the major orchestras, including: Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, … .

Paul Meyer’s recording activities include more than 40 cds with major labels such as DGG, Sony, RCA, EMI, Virgin, Alpha and Aeon which have won numerous awards: Fono-Forum, Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Gramophon, Grammy Awards, … . Paul Meyer’s most recent recording as a conductor, with the Brussels Philharmonic, features works by John Corigliano and Eliott Carter. It will be released by Aeon in autumn 2012. Other new releases include his recording under the Alpha label of Louis Spohr’s 4 clarinet concertos with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and, under the Ambitus label, Joseph Haydn’s horn concertos, with the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester.

Paul Meyer is a very active performer of contemporary music and many concertos have been composed for him, including works by Penderecki, Jarrell, Chen, Berio, Escaich and Dusapin. Contemporary repertoire also features regularly in his performances as guest conductor. Peter Eötvös has been commissioned to write a clarinet concerto which will be premiered in 2018 during the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Paul Meyer was born in Mulhouse in 1965. He made his debut in 1982, at the very young age of 17, as laureate of the prestigious Eurovision Contest. In 1983, he was appointed principal clarinet with the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon, then with the Ensemble intercontemporain in 1984 and with the Opéra de Paris in 1985. He soon left these orchestras to begin an international career as soloist. Simultaneously his passion for conducting led him early on to study with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux school in Maine, John Carewe (professor of Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Harding, among others) with whom he worked as assistant at the Northern Junior Philharmonic, as well as assistant of Marek Janowski at the Philharmonique de Radio France and Emmanuel Krivine.

Officialhomepage：http://meyerpaul.instantencore.com/web/home.aspx

José Gallardo（Piano）

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. José Gallardo began taking piano lessons at the age of five. After studying at the Conservatory in Buenos Aires, he continued his studies with Prof. Poldi Mildner at the Music Department of the University of Mainz and received his diploma in 1997. During this time he discovered his passion for chamber music. He owes musical inspiration to artists such as Menahem Pressler, Alfonso Montecino, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Eberhard Feltz, Sergiu Celibidache, Rosalyn Tureck and Bernard Greenhouse.

José Gallardo has won numerous national and international prizes and plays concerts worldwide at venues such as the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Philharmonie in Berlin, Wigmore Hall London or the Teatro della Pergola Florence. He has been invited to play at renowned festivals as Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Lucerne Festival, Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Music Days Hitzacker, Kaposfest Ungarn, Cello Festival Kronberg and Chopin Festival in Warsaw.

José Gallardo’s comprehensive chamber music activities and collaborations in Europe, Asia, Israel, Oceania and South America connect him with Vilde Frang, Barnabás Kelemen, Gidon Kremer, Linus Roth, Benjamin Schmid, Nils Mönkemeyer, Tomoko Akasaka, Andreas Ottensamer, Nicolas Altstaedt, Julius Berger, Maximilian Hornung, Benedict Klöckner, Miklós Perényi, and others.

He is a sought-after pianist for studio productions. More than 20 CDs have been released by Warner, Deutsche Grammophone, Challenge Records Int., Genuin, NEON, Oehms Classics and Naxos as well as television and radio productions by BR, SWR, MDR, BBC, RAI and others.

From 1998 to 2008 he was a lecturer at the Department of Music at the University of Mainz, since autumn 2008 he has been teaching at the Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg. Since 2013 he is, together with Andreas Ottensamer, artistic director of the chamber music festival Bürgenstock Festivals in Lucerne.

Tomoki Sakata（Piano）

Japanese pianist Tomoki Sakata “demonstrated virtuosity, considerable color and expressivity” (Dallas Morning News) during the 2013 Cliburn Competition, earning him a place among the top six finalists. Since just 19 years old, he has been building a reputation for a “youthful overabundance of talent” that creates “its own visceral excitement” (Theater Jones).
Mr. Sakata won the 4th prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2021, and the 1st Prize along with 6 special prizes at the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition 2016 in Budapest by a unanimous vote.
He has made recital, chamber and concerto appearances throughout Europe, Asia, the U.S.A and Africa, in such major concert halls as Leipzig Gewandhaus, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Rudolfinum, Müpa Budapest, Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Salle Cortot, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Teatro Grande di Brescia, and Suntory Hall, as soloist with Staatskapelle Halle, Belgian National Orchestra, Czech National Symphony, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Hungarian Radio Symphony, Hungarian State Opera, Sofia Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, Orchestre Phiharmonique du Maroc, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, working with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Alexander Lazarev, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Vladimír Válek, Sascha Goetzel, Jonathon Heyward, Howard Griffiths, Hugh Wolff, János Kovács, Andrea Battistoni, Tadaaki Otaka, Eiji Oue, and Kazushi Ono, as a chamber musician, working with the members of Tokyo Quartet, Brentano Quartet, to name a few. His performances have been broadcast on the Radio and TV in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, the U.S.A., and Japan.
Sakata has been invited in numerous international music festivals, including Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Kissinger Sommer (Germany), Beethovenfest Bonn (Germany), International Music Festival “Janáčkův máj” (Czech Republic), Brussels Piano Festival (Belgium), International Festival “Musical Kremlin” (Russia), and Spring Festival in Tokyo (Japan).
Also active as a composer and arranger, Mr. Sakata’s works have been performed at major concert halls in Japan by leading artists. His piano arrangements are published by Ongaku no Tomo Edition.
He made his debut as a conductor with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting 2 Mozart Concertos from the keyboard and Japan Premiere of a symphonic work by Liszt, in February 2022.
Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1993, Mr. Sakata began piano lessons at the age of 5 and began improvising and composing at age 6. He studied composition under Masayuki Nagatomi and Hinoharu Matsumoto. He had been a private student of Paul Badura-Skoda for 10 years since the age of 16. Sakata was admitted as a youngest student of The Lake Como International Piano Academy, where he had taken masterclasses by Dimitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher, and Tamás Vásáry.
He is currently studying with Arie Vardi at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.

（February 2023）

Kotaro Fukuma（Piano）

Born in Tokyo, Kotaro Fukuma began learning piano at the age of five and has received many high awards in international competitions, including the Arthur Rubinstein, Tel Aviv; Paloma O’Shea, Santander; Maj Lind, Helsinki; BNDES, Rio De Janeiro; and Gina Bachauer, Salt Lake City. In 2003, at the age of 20, Kotaro won both First Prize and the Chopin Prize at the 15th Cleveland International Piano Competition. Since then his concert career has developed on five continents (North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia).

Mr.Fukuma has performed in major concert venues, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, New York City; Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Berlin; Gewandhaus, Leipzig; Salle Gaveau, Paris; Victoria Hall, Geneva; Auditorio Nacional, Madrid; Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing; and Suntory Hall and Opera City, Tokyo.

His performances with orchestras include the Cleveland Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Lille National Orchestra, Galicia Royal Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of such conductors as Yuri Simonov, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, François-Xavier Roth, Asher Fisch, Hannu Lintu, Juanjo Mena, Jahja Ling, Mihhail Gerts and Kazuki Yamada. Beginning of July 2016, with 24h-notice he stepped in for Nelson Freire to perform Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.2 with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.

Passionate about contemporary music, Kotaro has performed world and national premieres of works by Toru Takemitsu, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Renaud Gagneux, Thierry Escaich, Thierry Huillet, Peter Klatzow, Mutsuo Shishido, Minako Tokuyama and Yuka Takechi,

Kotaro Fukuma has released eighteen commercial CDs by the following labels; Naxos, DENON, ARS produktion, Editions Hortus, Orpheus Classical, Accustika, Esprit du Piano, and has received critical acclaim in such music magazines as Gramophone, Diapason, American Music Records, Monde de la Musique, Classica, BR Klassik and Classic Today.

Kotaro studied music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with Bruno Rigutto and Marie-Françoise Bucquet, then at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Klaus Hellwig and at the International Piano Academy Lake Como in Italy. He also has studied with several great masters of the piano, including Leon Fleisher, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Alicia de Larrocha, Maria Joao Pires, Leslie Howard and Aldo Ciccolini.

Since July 2020 he has also been producing a concert series “Rare Piano Music”, in which he presents colleague pianists and rare piano repertoire.

Kotaro Fukuma currently lives in Berlin.

Kosuke Akimoto, Kyoko Ogawa, Yuki Ito
（AoiTrio / Piano・Violin・Cello）

Yuna Shinohara, Chihiro Kitada, Meguna Naka, Tatsuki Sasanuma
（Quartet Amabile / Violin・Viola・Cello）

The quartet won third prize and also the special prize for the best interpretation of the competition piece, in the string quartet division of the 65th ARD International Music Competition Munich, in 2016.

They won First Prize in the 2019 New York Young Concert Artists International Audition.
They performed with Martha Argerich at the 19th Music Festival in Beppu. They have also performed with Kazuhide Isomura, Jerusalem Quartet, Krzysztof Jablonski, Dang Thai Son.
They won the Grand Prix of the entire divisions and first prize at the 10th Yokohama International Music Competition, and first prize at the 12th Romanian International Music Competition. They also won the Kirishima International Music Festival Prize and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi Music Director Prize and received the Matsuo Music Subsidy from Matsuo Academy Promotion Foundation in 2015-2017,2019.
The Quartet performed at the 27th International Music Festival Young Prague with the National Theater Orchestra at the Prague Dvorak Hall in September 2018.
The Quartet has participated in several master classes and is currently studying with Kazuhide Isomura.

(October 2020)

Kosuke Akimoto（Piano）

Kei Shirai

Born in Trinidad and Tobago. After graduation from the Tokyo University of the Arts, he continued his further studies at the University of Music and Preforming Arts Vienna. He is a prizewinner such as 2.Prize with the Audience Prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.
After serving as a concertmaster in the Kobe City Chamber Ensemble and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, now he concentrates on the Kugenuma Music Academy which he founded in 2023.

Mona Endo

Mona Endo began playing the violin at the age of four. She is currently studying under Koichiro Harada and Michiko Kamiya at Toho Gakuen Music High School as an honor student. She was a finalist in the 9thInternational LOUIS SPOHR Competition for Young Violinists.

Mako Ochiai

She is currently in her fourth year at Tokyo University of the Arts as a Tokuji Munetsugu special scholarship student. She has won many awards including the 2nd Prize at the 90th Japan Music Competition. She is a fellow of the 7th Suntory Hall Chamber Music Academy and a scholarship student of RMF 2023. Currently she is taught violin skills by Asako Urushihara, Keiko Urushihara, and Masafumi Hori.

Masako Shirabe

Performed at the 2019 TOHO GAKUEN COLLEGE MUSIC DEPARTMENT graduation concert. Graduated as the top of the year with Master in Music from the Belgian Royal Lemmens institute school of arts. Graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts Overijse (Belgian ballet school) the same year.
Member of the Japan General Orchestra. Worked as judge at the All Japan Classical Music Competition. Studied under Koichiro Harada.

Lina Nakano

Lina Nakano quickly gained attention by winning consecutive first prizes at the 2021 Japan Music Competition and the 2022 Sendai International Music Competition. It led to the launch of her career as a soloist. She is currently enrolled in the Soloist Diploma Course at Toho Gakuen School of Music and is a 2023 ROHM Music Foundation scholarship student. She performs on a generously loaned 1716 Stradivarius violin provided by the ITOH Foundation.

Hanae Yakuro

Hanae Yakuro attended Tokyo University of the Arts, studying violin with Natsumi Tamai and Masafumi Hori.
She has participated in master class with Akiko Suwanai in the 4th International Music Festival NIPPON.She was a member of the NHK Nagoya Junior Orchestra from 2012 to 2017.

Kyoko Yonemoto

At the age of 13, Kyoko Yonemoto became the youngest-ever prizewinner at the 1997 Paganini　Competition in Italy. She later received numerous prizes including first prize in the Paganini　Moscow International Competition. In addition to appearing with major orchestras inside and　outside Japan, Yonemoto has earned high praise as a chamber musician. She is currently a　professor at the Maastricht Conservatorium in the Netherlands. Her CD Ysaÿe: Complete Sonatas　for Violin received the Excellence Award a recipient of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Kyoko　Yonemoto plays a 1727 Stradivarius violin, on loan from the Suntory Foundation for Arts.

Emily Körner

Emily Körner was born in Canada. She studied at the Juilliard School before moving to Germany in 1995. She holds the position of principal second violin in the SWR Symphonieorchester in Stuttgart and has an honorary professorship at the University of the Arts in Stuttgart. She is an avid chamber musician and member of the Hegel Quartet.

Maki Yamauchi

She graduated from Toho Gakuen College Music Department, and completed its graduate school. She won the 1st prize at Salzburg-Mozart International Chember Music Competition, the highest prize at the Japan Classical Music Competition, several prizes at competitions, including Student Music Concours of Japan, and others. She participated in Spring Festival in Tokyo, etc.

Shuichi Okada

Born in 1995 in Bordeaux, he began studying the violin at the age of 5. After starting his studies at the Bordeaux Conservatory with Stéphane Rougier, he was admitted to the CNSM in Paris unanimously at the age of 15, in the class of Roland Daugareil, Suzanne Gessner and Christophe Poiget. He continued after his studies at the Barenboim Said Academy in Berlin with Mihaela Martin and at La Chapelle Reine Elisabeth with Augustin Dumay.
Shuichi is selected to participate in prestigious academies, such as the Seiji Ozawa Academy (Switzerland), the Carl Flesch Academy (where he won the Stennebrüggen Prize, the Carl Flesch Prize and the Ginette Neveu Prize), or the Santander Festival.
He is the winner of many competitions: 2nd prize at the international Postacchini competition, 1st prize at the Ginette Neveu international competition, 1st prize as well as the prize for the most remarkable personality at the Mirecourt international competition, and more recently became laureat in prestigious competitions. like the Lipizer competition (Gorizia) or the Fritz Kreisler competition (Vienna).
In 2015 he won the second prize in the Markneukirchen competition, and received the “Prince of Hessen” prize during the master classes at the Kronberg Academy.
This gives him the opportunity to play with orchestras such as the lyric orchestra of Avignon, the Weimar Hochschule orchestra, the Nancy symphony orchestra, the DFO orchestra, the « Nouvelle Europe » chamber orchestra, the Baden-Baden philharmonic orchestra, the Vogtland philharmonic, the Normandy orchestra, the Toulon opera orchestra, the Bayonne orchestra, the Pasdeloup orchestra, the Biel Symphony Orchestra, Wallonie chamber orchestra…

Shuichi is regularly invited to festivals, such as the Gstaadt festival, Verbier festival, the “les vacances de Mr Haydn” festival, the Roque d'Anthéron, Vézère, La Baule, “folles journées” of Nantes and Tokyo, Seiji Ozawa festival in Mastumoto, Deauville, Radio-France, Giverny festival, the 1001 notes festival, the Val d'Izère festival, Guéthary, Palazetto Bru Zane, where he performed with artists such as Renaud Capuçon, Jerôme Pernoo, Jerôme Ducros, Michel Strauss, Raphael Pidoux, Jean-Claude Vanden Eyden, Peter Frankl, Philippe Jaroussky, Mathieu Herzog, Antoine Tamestit, Claire Désert, Lise Berthaud, Itamar Golan, Jean- François Heisser, Amaury Coeytaux, Stéphanie-Marie Degand, Gérard Caussé, Pierre Fouchenneret, Augustin Dumay, François Salque, Gary Hoffman, Miguel Da Silva ...
He had the opportunity to play in big halls as a soloist or in chamber music at the Salle Pleyel, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Salle Cortot, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Louis Vuitton foundation, the Bozar in Brussels, Flagey, Izumi hall…
Shuichi is also the violinist of the Arnold string trio composed of Bum Jun Kim (cello) and Manuel Vioque Judde (viola). They are in residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation.
He released his first CD (Brahms / Schumann) with pianist Clément Lefebvre, under the Mirare label.
He also recorded the string quintets and sextets of Brahms with Pierre Fouchenneret, Lise Berthaud, Adrien Boisseau, François Salque and Yan Levionnois, as part of “the complete chamber music of Brahms”, for the B-record label .
With the label Alpha, he recorded the octet of Schubert and the octet of Raphaël Merlin (from quatuor Ébène), as well as with the singer Veronique Gens in French melodies, rewarded by a choc of classica, a diapason d'or, nominated at the victory of classical music in the recording category. He also recorded the Caroline Shaw’s piano quartet.
He released his first CD with Mirare with the Arnold string trio Beethoven's Op.9s.
They were rewarded with the diapason d’or for this recording.
Finally he participated in the complete chamber music of Franck for the Fuga Libéra label, where he recorded a duo with Jean-Claude Vanden Eyden, a trio as well as Franck's quintet alongside Augustin Dumay, Miguel Da Silva, Gary Hoffman and Jonathan Fournel.
Shuichi is supported by the Safran Foundation, Or du Rhin and Banque Populaire. He plays on a magnificent violin by Carlo Tononi from 1710, loaned by the Belgian royal family and La Chapelle Reine Elisabeth.

Tsukasa Tamai

Tsukasa Tamai won 2nd place at the 20th Osaka International Music Competition.
He will also be a scholarship recipient of the Aoyama Music Foundation in 2020.
Tsukasa studied at Kyoto City University of Arts and Tokyo University of the Arts, and is currently active as a chamber musician and orchestral player.

Karito Ohmitsu

・2015-2021Tokyo University of the Arts, Bachelor of Music, and Masters of Music
・Performed with Chubu philharmonic orchestra ,Nagoya philharmonic orchestra and Aichi chamber orchestra as a soloist.
・Participated in Rostropovich international music festival in Moscow.
・Performed in「PMF 2019」as concert master in 2019
・Receive a Toyota Culture Newcomer Award from Toyota City Cultural Promotion Foundation.
・Irregularly perform as a member of Yokohama sinfonietta.

Taishin Yamamoto

Taishin Yamamoto was awarded 3rd prize at the Grumiaux International Violin Competition 2019, and also has performed as soloist with the Geidai Philharmonia Orchestra. A graduate of both Tokyo University of the Arts and The Music High School attached to Tokyo University of the Arts, he currently holds an academit position a the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Meguna Naka

Meguna Naka started playing violin at the age of 4 and switched to viola at the age of 21. After graduating from the music department of Toho Gakuen Music College, she completed the master's degree program at Hanns Eisler Music University in Berlin. Meguna Naka is principal violist in the New Japan Philharmonic. She plays a 1722 Domenico Montagnana viola, on special loan from the Munetsugu Collection.

Tamaki Asano

Born in Aichi Prefecture in 2004, I began playing the violin at the age of 4 and switched to the viola at 17. Currently studying under Toshihiko Ichitsubo and Kaoru Ohno. After graduating from the Music Department of Kikuzato High School in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, I am currently a second-year student at the Department of Instrumental Music, Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts.

Tsubasa Ariyoshi

Tsubasa Ariyoshi studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts in the class of Junji Suganuma and Geneva Conservatory in the class of Nobuko Imai. She has won several international competitions and won 1st prize at the Tokyo Music Competition. She was the violist of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande until 2016.

Ryo Muramatsu

He started playing the violin at the age of 6, and graduated from Tokyo College of Music after studying at Tokyo College of Music High School. He appeared On Okinawa International Music Festival, Spring Festival in Tokyo, Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.
He is Vice Principal with NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Shu Yamamoto

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Shu Yamamoto started to study viola at age 17, with Ryo Sasaki at Toho Gakuen School Of Music.
He performed at Spring Festival in Tokyo, Miyazaki International Music Festival and Takefu International Music Festival, among others, and made guest appearances with orchestras such as Japan Century Symphony Orchestra as a principal player.

Rei Tsujimoto

Rei Tsujimoto, principal cellist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, is a premier prix graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts. He continued his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and Hochschule der Künste Bern in Switzerland. He was awarded second place as well as the Audience Award at the 72nd Music Competition of Japan. In 2007. In 2009, he was granted third place at The Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition.

Urara Katsuki

In 2017 she won the first prize in the Japan Music Competition. As a soloist, she has performed with major orchestras such as the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan with conductor Tadaaki Otaka. In 2023, she debuted at Tokyo Kioi hall as a recitalist. Since 2022 she has been studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris as a scholarship student of the Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation.

Keita Takagi

Graduated from the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In spring of 2007, Takagi went to study at Berlin University of the Arts on a scholarship from the Rohm Music Foundation. He won 2nd Prize in the Cello Division of the 74th Music Competition of Japan. Keita Takagi is a member of Quartet Explloce and the Shinagawa Quartet.

Masanori Ichikawa

Masanori Ichikawa is originally from Kawasaki, Japan. Graduated from Toho Gakuen School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree, and also studied with Gary Karr in Canada. Currently Vice Principal Double Bass of NHK Symphony Orchestra, Associate Professor of Toho Gakuen School of Music and Adjunct Faculty of Ferris University College of Music.

Tatsuro Honma

Tatsuro Honma graduated top of the class from Toho Gakuen College Music Department.
At the time of graduation, he performed at Tokagakudo Concert Hall in the Imperial Palace　in the presence of the emperor as well as in the graduation concert. In 2008 he joined NHK　Symphony Orchestra. In 2014 he studied in Vienna on the Program of Overseas Study for　Upcoming Artists by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. He won 1st prize in the 7th Japan　Player’s Competition and 3 rd prize in the 18 th Takarazuka Vega Music Competition. He has　studied with Mitsuo Fujisawa, Naofumi Nishida, and Gerbert Mayr. He is a part-time lecturer at Toho Gakuen College Music Department.

Hokuto Oka

Mayuko Morieda

Graduated from The Music Hight School attached to The Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts and Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.
She received the Ataka Prize whilst still studying at University.
She has performed Miyazaki International Music Festival, Kirishima international Music Festival Kagoshima, Kiso Music Festival, Kurashiki Music Festival and Saito Kinen Orchestra, etc.
Received instruction of oboe from Shigeru Suzuki, Hiroyuki Iguchi, Yoshiaki Obata and Yoko Kojima.
Currently, she is a member of the Kioi hall chamber Orchestra.

Nobuaki Fukukawa

“Hearing the sound of Nobuaki Fukukawa’s horn, we feel like the world had changed in a moment - as if, abruptly, an otherworldly wind came upon us from anywhere but here.” (Mainichi newspaper)
“A veritable chameleon of horn technique” (Ongaku-no-Tomo magazine)
“It is no exaggeration to say that he changed Japanese horn performance history.” (Japan Horn Society)

Principal Horn player of the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo.
Fukukawa has performed as a soloist with NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra and more.
Eminent conductors and players both inside and outside Japan have great confidence in Fukukawa, who collaborated recently with the former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Rainer Küchl as well as the oboist and composer Heinz Holliger.
Fukukawa is invited to concert halls all over the country for various concert series and participates in numerous music festivals, “La Folle Journée au Japon” and the “Spring Festival in Tokyo” to name a few.

Not limited to the field of the French horn, Fukukawa’s activities as soloist extend to period instruments such as natural horn, Vienna horn and French-style piston horn. Most notably, he has appeared as a guest Baroque horn player with Bach Collegium Japan.
Fukukawa released his solo CD “Rhapsody in Horn”, “Rhapsody in Horn 2” and “Rhapsody in Horn 3” on King Records, Japan.

Yu Kumai

Graduated from Musashino Academia Musicae,Tokyo.
Belongs to Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra (2014 to present) after Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (2011-2014).
Member of Alexander Horn Ensemble Japan.
Instructor of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.

Junji Nakamura

Flute and piccolo player of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts at the top. Received the 15th Matsukata Music Award.

Mariko Hamasaki

Tokyo University of the Arts High School Attached to the Faculty of Music, and after graduating from the same department, she graduated from the same university.
1st prize at the 17th Japan Woodwind Competition.2nd place in the 26th Japan Wind Percussion Competition.2nd place in the 79th Japan Music Competition.6th place in the 8th Kobe International Flute Competition.
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra flute&piccolo player.Part-time lecturer at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.