Quartet Amabile

In 2016 Quartet Amabile won third prize as well as the special prize for best interpretation of the commissioned competition piece in the string quartet division of the 65th ARD International Music Competition Munich, a competition known for its difficulty.

The quartet was awarded first prize in the 2019 Young Concert Artists International Audition in New York.

The group was formed in 2015 by members Yuna Shinohara (violin), Chihiro Kitada (violin), Meguna Naka (viola), and Tatsuki Sasanuma (cello) while they were enrolled at Toho Gakuen School of Music. They studied under Kazuhide Isomura and Nobuko Yamazaki.

In 2016, Quartet Amabile won the Grand Prix in all divisions as well as first prize in the 10th Yokohama International Music Competition, and first prize in the 12th Romanian International Music Competition. They were also awarded the Lecturer’s Special Prize in the 12th Music Academy in Miyazaki, the 26th Risonare Chamber Music Seminar Encouragement Prize, and the 38th Kirishima International Music Festival Prize and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi Music Director Prize. They received the Matsuo Music Subsidy from Matsuo Academy Promotion Foundation in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Quartet Amabile has been involved in the “Brahms Plus” series at Hakuju Hall since 2020, and the “Beethoven String Quartet Complete Works” series at Oji Hall since 2021. They have performed with renowned musicians including Martha Argerich, Krzysztof Jabłonski, Dang Thai Son, Paul Meyer, Jörg Widmann and Kirill Gerstein. In March 2021 the quartet received the Hotel Okura Music Award. Their future activities are highly anticipated.

Quartet Amabile

Yuna Shinohara (violin), Chihiro Kitada (violin), Meguna Naka (viola), Tatsuki Sasanuma (cello)

In 2016, Quartet Amabile won third prize as well as the special prize for best interpretation of the commissioned competition piece in the string quartet division of the 65th ARD International Music Competition Munich, a competition known for its difficulty. The quartet was awarded first prize in the 2019 Young Concert Artists International Audition in New York. They studied under Kazuhide Isomura and Nobuko Yamazaki. The quartet was awarded the Hotel Okura Music Award in 2021. They have been working on Hakuju Hall’s “BRAHMS Plus” series since 2020, and Oji Hall’s “Complete Beethoven String Quartets Cycle” series since 2021. Quartet Amabile has performed with renowned musicians including Martha Argerich, Krzysztof Jablonski, Dang Thai Son, Paul Meyer, Jörg Widmann and Kirill Gerstein.

July 2025

Yuna Shinohara, violin

Yuna Shinohara won 2nd Prize and the Iwatani Prize (audience prize) at the 80th Japan Music Competition, and was awarded the 17th Hiroyuki Iwaki Music Award. She played violin for the main character of the Fuji TV animated series “Your Lie in April.” She released the CD “Estreno” on EPIC SONY.
Yuna Shinohara graduated at the top of her class from Toho Gakuen Music High School, completed the Soloist Diploma Course at Toho Gakuen School of Music, received a diploma from the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, and completed the master’s degree course at Toho Gakuen School of Music. She studied violin with Kinya Yamashita, Akiko Tatsumi, Maxim Vengerov and Fuminori Shinozaki, and studied chamber music with Kazuoki Fujii, Tsugio Tokunaga, Kazuhide Isomura and others. She is a guest concertmaster of Japan Century Symphony Orchestra. She plays a G.F. Pressenda ex “Carl Flesch” made in 1832 (Munetsugu Collection).

July 2025

Chihiro Kitada, violin

Chihiro Kitada won 4th Prize in the 7th Sendai International Music Competition and 2nd Prize in the 1st International Music Competition of Bratislava Academy of Performing Arts. She also won 1st Prize in the 65th All Japan Student Music Competition. She has been awarded the IMA Encouragement Prize at the Ishikawa Music Academy, the Music Academy in Miyazaki Excellence Prize, and the Kirishima International Music Festival Prize. Chihiro Kitada has performed at the Tokyo Spring Music Festival, Miyazaki International Music Festival, Kirishima International Music Festival, and others. She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Japan and abroad, including the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, and Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. She studied violin under Yoshiyuki Kawamoto, Eiko Komuro, Naoko Murakami, Isako Shinozaki, and Yuzuko Horigome. After graduating from the Toho Gakuen School of Music and that school’s master’s degree program, she studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. She is a concertmaster of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra.

July 2025

Meguna Naka, Viola

Meguna Naka began playing the violin at the age of four and switched to the viola at the age of 21. After graduating from Toho Gakuen School of Music, she completed the master’s course at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. She has appeared on TV Asahi’s program “Untitled Concert”, NHK-FM’s “Recital Passio”, and in numerous festivals including the Tokyo Spring Music Festival, “Viola Space,” “B→C,” Miyazaki International Music Festival, Kirishima International Music Festival and Kitakyushu International Music Festival. She performed with Nobuko Imai in “The 5th Nobuko Imai Viola Recital.”
Meguna Naka has studied violin with Ryoji Kubo, and viola with Ryo Sasaki and Walter Küssner. She was the principal violist of the New Japan Philharmonic. She plays a Montagnana viola on special loan from the Munetsugu Collection.

July 2025

Tatsuki Sasanuma, Cello

Tatsuki Sasanuma won first prize in the Salzburg Mozart International Chamber Music Competition as well as prizes in the Tokyo Music Competition and Japan Music Competition. He graduated from the Department of German Language and Culture in the Faculty of Letters at Gakushuin University and completed a graduate course at Toho Gakuen Graduate School. Tatsuki Sasanuma studied under Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Henri Demarquette.
Sasanuma has performed as a soloist with the New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Prague National Theatre Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and others. In addition, he has frequently performed chamber music with renowned musicians at music festivals in Japan and abroad. After studying as a special student at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, he is currently an artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. He was awarded the 20th Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Prize in 2022. He is a guest principal of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. His instrument is a 1771 C.F. Landolfi (Munetsugu Collection).

July 2025