Akiko Suwanai（Violin / Artistic Director of International Music Festival NIPPON 2022）

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, Berlin Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony Orchestra, 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. Suwanai was a jury member of the violin divisions of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium in 2012 and 2015, the Concours International Long-Thibaud-Crespin in 2018, and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019. 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, and in 2021 completed the doctor of arts program and received the Konzertexamen degree, Germany’s qualification for outstanding musicians.
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 lives in the United States.

Mark Gothoni（Violin）

Mark Gothoni began his musical training at the age of six at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and subsequently became a pupil of Ana Chumachenco in Munich. He received further guidance from Shmuel Ashkenasi in Chicago and Sandor Vegh in Salzburg. 

Winner of several international competitions, Gothoni was honored in 1991 as “Debut-of-the-Year” at the Jyväskylä Arts Festival in Finland. 

Since then he has performed as a soloist and as chamber musician around the globe, including major festivals in Europe, Israel, the United States, and the Far East and concert halls like the Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lincoln Center New York, Library of Congress Washington, Wigmore Hall London and Kioi Hall Tokyo. 

He served as concertmaster of the Zurich and Munich Chamber Orchestras amongst others and in 2004-08 he was the leader and musical director of the European Union Chamber Orchestra. 

He is the first violinist of the Orpheus Quartet and member of the award-winning Mozart Piano Quartet, with which he records exclusively for the German label MDG - Dabringhaus&Grimm. 

As professor of violin at the University of the Arts Berlin he is giving master classes all over the world besides being head of the chamber music department of the Savonlinna Music Academy in Finland.

Jens-Peter Maintz（Cello）

In 1994, he won first prize at the ARD International Music Competition, which had previously not been awarded to a cellist for 17 years till then. He has been principal cellist of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2006, at the invitation of Claudio Abbado. He has appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and others, under the baton of conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Marek Janowski, Franz Welser-Möst. Since 2004 he has been professor at Berlin University of the Arts. Jens Peter Maintz plays the 'Ex-Servais' cello made by Giovanni Grancino in 1697.

Iván Fischer（Conductor）

Iván Fischer is the founder and Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, as well as the Music Director of the Konzerthaus and Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In recent years he has also gained a reputation as a composer, with his works being performed in the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Germany and Austria. What is more, he has directed a number of successful opera productions.

The BFO’s frequent worldwide tours and a series of critically acclaimed and fast selling records, released first by Philips Classics and later by Channel Classics, have contributed to Iván Fischer’s reputation as one of the world’s most high-profile music directors.
Fischer has guest-conducted the Berlin Philharmonic more than ten times; every year he spends two weeks with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; and as a conductor, he is also a frequent guest of the leading US symphonic orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. As Music Director, he has led the Kent Opera and the Opéra National de Lyon, and was Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. Many of his recordings have been awarded prestigious international prizes. He studied piano, violin, and later the cello and composition in Budapest, before continuing his education in Vienna where he studied Conducting under Hans Swarowsky.

Iván Fischer is a founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society and Patron of the British Kodály Academy. He has received the Golden Medal Award from the President of the Republic of Hungary, and the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum for his services in promoting international cultural relations. The government of the French Republic made him Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2006 he was honoured with the Kossuth Prize, Hungary’s most prestigious arts award. In 2011 he received the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, Hungary’s Prima Primissima Prize and the Dutch Ovatie Prize. In 2013 he was accorded Honorary Membership to the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2015 he was presented with the Abu Dhabi Festival Award.

Budapest Festival Orchestra（Orchestra）

The orchestra was formed in 1983 by Iván Fischer and Zoltán Kocsis, with musicians “drawn from the cream of Hungary’s younger players,” as TheTimes of London put it. Their aim, through intensive rehearsals and demanding the highest standards from musicians, was to make the orchestra’s initially three or four concerts per year significant events in Hungary’s musical life, and to give Budapest a new symphony orchestra of international standing.

Between 1992 and 2000, extending their work to a full season the ensemble operated under the aegis of the Budapest Municipality and the new BFO Foundation, formed by fifteen Hungarian and multinational corporations and banks. From the 2000/2001 season onwards the orchestra is operated by the BFO Foundation, which the Budapest City Council regularly supports under a contract renewable every five years. In 2003 the Ministry of Education and Culture declared the orchestra a national institution supported by the state.

The Festival Orchestra is nowadays not only a vital part of Budapest’s music life (usually performing to capacity audiences) but also a frequent and much appreciated guest at the world’s most important centres of musical excellence: Salzburg (Summer Festival), Vienna (Musikverein, Konzerthaus), Lucerne (Festival), Montreux, Zürich (Tonhalle), New York (Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall), Chicago, Los Angeles (Hollywood Bowl), San Francisco, Montreal, Tokyo (Suntory Hall), Hong-Kong, Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées), Berlin, Munich , Frankfurt (Alte Oper), London (BBC Proms Festival, Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall), Florence (Maggio Musicale), Rome (Accademia di Santa Cecilia), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Madrid, Athens, Copenhagen, Prague (Prague Spring Festival), Brussels (Flamish Festival) and Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), among others.
After having recorded on Hungaroton, Quintana, Teldec, Decca, Ponty and Berlin Classics, the orchestra signed an exclusive recording contract with Philips Classics in 1996. Its recording of Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin received the Gramophone Award, while Diapason and Le Monde de la Musique chose it as their recording of the year. Recordings of Liszt’s Faust Symphony and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra were chosen among the year’s five best orchestral discs by Gramophone. In 2003 the BFO signed a cooperation agreement with the label Channel Classics. Their recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.6. has been nominated for the Grammy Award, their Mahler 2. has received the Gramophone Award. International critics voted the orchestra in December 2008 among the ten best symphony orchestras of the world.
Numerous outstanding figures from the international music scene have performed with the orchestra: Sir Georg Solti (who was the orchestra’s honorary guest conductor until his death), Yehudi Menuhin, Kurt Sanderling, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Charles Dutoit, Gidon Kremer, Sándor Végh, András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Agnes Baltsa, Ida Haendel, Martha Argerich, Hildegard Behrens, Yuri Bashmet, Rudolf Barshai, Kiri te Kanawa, Radu Lupu, Thomas Zehetmair, Vadim Repin, Helen Donath, Maria-Joao Pires, Richard Goode and others.
Among the orchestra’s more important projects, its opera productions have been widely acclaimed: The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte, La Nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo, Orfeo ed Euridice, Un Turco in Italia, the cycle of works marking the 50th anniversary of Bartók’s death, the cycle of Mahler symphonies over several years, the series of performances for the centenary of Brahms’ death, a Bartók-Stravinsky cycle and a Liszt-Wagner cycle in January 2004. In 2005 the orchestra launched its annual Budapest Mahlerfest, in 2008 its annual “marathon” featuring each year a different composer.
The ensemble places great emphasis on the performance of new music and has given many world and Hungarian premieres. The orchestra regularly commissions new works. In 2006 the orchestra was awarded – as first foreign ensemble – with the Dutch Music Prize.
To promote the artistic development of its members the BFO has developed regular chamber music and chamber orchestra series alongside its major orchestral concerts. The Sunday afternoon chamber music events, the “Cocoa Concerts” for young children, the “Haydn-Mozart plus” series, where soloists of the concertos are members of the orchestra, as well as their annual open-air summer concerts have all quickly become favourites of the Budapest music audience. Ever since its foundation 26 years ago, the BFO’s Music Director has been Iván Fischer.

Kosuke Akimoto（Piano）

Kosuke Akimoto was born in 1993 at Hyogo, Japan. He won the 2nd prize at the International Rosario Marciano Piano Competition in 2010, the Special prize at the International Paderewski Piano Competition in 2016. And he won the 1st prize at the ARD International Music Competition Munich in 2018 as the Aoi Trio. Akimoto has released the CD which is including “Rite of Spring” performing with his teacher Hiroshi Arimori and it got numerous acclaims in the record magazine. His activity includes solo recital, chamber music, performance with orchestra and community program in many cities. He got the bachelor and master degree at the Tokyo University of the Arts and is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.

Miki Kobayashi（Violin）

In 2006, she was awarded with "Special Jury Prize" from Gidon Kremer at the 6th Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition. And she caught a great attention and popularity as a violinist after she won the 2nd Prize in Wieniawski International Violin Competition in October 2011. She played with the prestigious Orchestras in Japan and also collaborated with Maxim Vengerov and major Orchestras in Poland.She also very active as a Chamber musician at Miyazaki International Music Festival and Kamakura Art Center Solisten. In 2014, she was awarded "24th Idemitsu Music Award.She released 4 Recordings.

Takeshi Hidaka（Horn）

After graduating with a degree in economics from Nagasaki University, Mr. Hidaka went on to study horn at the Tokyo University of the Arts and Conservatorium Maastricht in the Nerherlands.

During the period from 2000 to 2013, He was a member of Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra,Tokyo as a Hornist.

In April of 2013, Mr. Hidaka became an associate professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts.

He is also on faculty at Kunitachi College of Music, Showa College of Music. Since 2019, He is became a member of Japan Century Symphony Orchestra as a Guest Principal hornist and principal horn of New Japan philharmonic.

Yu Ito（Cello）

Yu Ito was born in Nara Japan 1992 and began to learn cello when he was six. After studying under Tatsuo Saito, he learned at Tokyo University of the Arts where he graduated as the top student under Nobuko Yamazaki and Kenzi Nakagi. After graduated he studied with Enrico Bronzi at Mozarteum University Salzburg. He is is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.
His achievements at competitions include 1st prize at ARD International Music Competition in 2018 as Aoi Trio, Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2016, Pablo Casals International Cello Competition in 2014 and 1st prize at Music Competition of Japan in 2008.
As a soloist, Yu has collaborated with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra Tokyo.

Taira Kaneko（Clarinet）

Taira Kaneko was born in Saitama Prefecture in 1984. After attending Tokyo University of the Arts, he graduated from the Hochschule für Musik Lübeck (Germany) in 2012. He studied clarinet with Yuichi Handa, Masaharu Yamamoto, Yuji Murai and Sabine Meyer. Kaneko won 1st prize at the Japan Music Competition in 2006 and 3rd prize at the ARD International Music Competition in 2008. He has appeared in the NHK-FM program “Recital NOVA,” the “B→C Recital Series,” and the Kiso Music Festival. Currently, Kaneko is a member of Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra Tokyo and principal clarinetist of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.

Junichiro Murakami（Viola）

Jun-ichiro Murakami attended Toho Gakuen College of Music, studying viola with Mazumi Tanamura and chamber music with Nobuko Yamazaki and Miyoko Yamane-Goldberg. In 2003 he went to Florence, Italy on the Agency for Foreign Affairs overseas study program for up-and-coming artists, and studied viola with Augusto Vismara at the Cherubini Conservatory.
Murakami was awarded 1st Prize at the Trieste International Competition, receiving the Gold Medal from then-president Ciampi of Italy. He was invited to perform in about 50 concerts throughout Italy and in various locations in Europe. He also won 1st Prize in the Vittorio Gui International Competition in Florence.
Moving from Italy to Germany, Murakami assumed the post of solo violist with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. He has appeared as guest principal violist with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Bamberg Symphony, among others, and has performed as a chamber musician and soloist in music festivals throughout Europe.
Jun-ichiro Murakami became principal violist with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in October 2021.

Kyoko Ogawa（Violin）

Kyoko Ogawa was born in 1992 and graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts. She won 1st prize and audience award at the 10th Tokyo Music Competition, Career Development Award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2016 and 1st prize at the 67th ARD Munich International Music Competition as Aoi Trio.

She has performed as a soloist with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and other orchestras in Tokyo. She participated in the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy in Okushiga, the Zermatt Music Festival and the Saito Kinen Orchestra. Her past co-artists as soloist includes Seiji Ozawa and Anne-Sophie Mutter.

She was honored to join Karajan Academy of Berlin Philharmonic till April 2021, and currently studying at the University of Music and Theater in Munich.

Tadaaki Otaka（Conductor）

Music Director --- Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra
Permanent Conductor --- NHK Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Laureate --- BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Honorary Music Director --- Sapporo Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Laureate --- Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Honorary Guest Conductor --- Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
Honorary Conductor Laureate --- Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra Tokyo

Born in 1947, OTAKA studied at Toho Gakuen School of Music under Hideo SAITO, a professor known for teaching Seiji Ozawa and Hiroshi Wakasugi. He then moved to Vienna to study with Hans Swarowsky and Spannagel.

As Japan’s leading conductor, OTAKA conducted all major Japanese Orchestras. He is also a popular figure throughout the world particularly in the UK, where he is invited as Guest Conductor to the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony etc. He made his Proms debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 1988. He also received invitations to the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Philharmonic and many others.

In 1993, the Welsh College of Music and Drama conferred an Honorary Fellowship on OTAKA. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wales. In 1997, he was awarded the CBE, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to British musical life. He is also the first Japanese to receive the Elgar Medal in 1999, for his continuous efforts at spreading the works by Elgar outside the UK.

NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo（Orchestra）

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, then called the New Symphony Orchestra, was formed on October 5, 1926, and in 1951, it came under the financial support of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and was renamed the NHK Symphony Orchestra. During those years it cemented its foundation as the leading orchestra in Japan under Joseph Rosenstock who was invited from Germany as Chief Conductor. The subscription concert series, the main pillar of its performances, started on February 20, 1927, and continued even through the time of the Second World War. The orchestra has given long-remembered numerable masterpiece performances by successively inviting conductors at the world’s forefront such as Herbert von Karajan, Ernest Ansermet, Joseph Keilberth, Lovro von Matačić, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Lorin Maazel as well as the world’s most sought-after soloists.

The NHKSO performs about 120 concerts across Japan annually including 54 subscription concerts which are broadcast nationwide on NHK television and NHK FM radio, and some of which are introduced to the world’s audience through international broadcast services. In August 2013, it made its first appearance at the Salzburg Festival, and in the spring of 2020, presented concerts in nine major European cities including Berlin and Vienna, earning high artistic acclaim for its performances and activities. In recent years, the orchestra has been engaged in a variety of educational programs to inspire the next generation of musicians such as NHKSO Academy to foster future orchestra musicians and NHK Music Club for Children to teach children the joy of music through hands-on experience by visiting schools nationwide.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra was forced to cancel its subscription concerts for the entire 2020-21 season, however, under specialist advice it quickly drew up “measures against the infection designed by the NHK Symphony Orchestra”, in accordance with which, the orchestra presented special concerts every month, delivering music at concert halls and through broadcast to people whose daily lives were harshly restricted. Conductors closely associated with the NHK Symphony Orchestra include Paavo Järvi (Chief Conductor), Charles Dutoit (Music Director Emeritus), Herbert Blomstedt (Honorary Conductor Laureate), Vladimir Ashkenazy (Conductor Laureate), Yuzo Toyama (Permanent Conductor) and Tadaaki Otaka (Permanent Conductor).

Tomoki Sakata（Piano）

Tomoki Sakata was awarded 4th Prize at The Queen Elisabeth Competition 2021. In the 2016 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Budapest, he won 1st Prize and six special prize, becoming the first Asian winner in the competition’s history.

In 2013, Sakata was the youngest finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He won the Grand Prix, Audience Prize and five other special prizes at the 35th PTNA Piano Competition; the Mozart Special Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition; and 1st Prize in the 2019 Kissinger KlavierOlymp.

Based in Hannover and Yokohama, Tomoki Sakata received the city of Yokohama’s Cultural Award and Art Encouragement Prize in 2017.

Yasuhiro Suzuki（Viola）

Yasuhiro Suzuki is a principal solo violist with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He began studying the violin at the age of five, and graduated from Toho Gakuen College of Music after studying at Toho Gakuen Music High School. After graduation, he changed instruments from the violin to the viola. Suzuki has won many prizes, including 1st Prize in the high school division of the Tokyo round of the 47th Student Music Concours of Japan. Suzuki trained at the Karajan Academy in Germany starting in 2001, and became an associate member of the Berlin Philharmonic. His wide-ranging activities also include appearances at the Saito Kinen Festival and the Miyazaki International Music Festival.

Ayako Tahara（Viola）

Japanese violist Ayako Tahara, won the first prize at Tokyo Music Competition and International Romania Music Competition. She performed the recal and the concertos for solist with many orchestra in Japan. Also studying Hochschule für Musik Detmold with Veit Hertenstein.

Rei Tsujimoto（Cello）

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 2003. In 2009, he was granted third place at The Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition.
http://www.rei-tsujimoto.com

Michiaki Ueno（Cello）

Michiaki Ueno has won 1st Prizes in the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, the Romanian International Music Competition, the Johannes Brahms International Competition and the Geneva International Music Competition, as well as 2nd Prize in the Witold Lutoslawski International Cello Competition. He has performed with many artists and orchestras both in Japan and overseas, earning favorable recognition. He has also been awarded the Iwatani Tokiko Incentive Award and the Aoyama Music Award New Face Award. Ueno studied with Hakuro Mori at the Toho Gakuen College Music Department, and currently studies with Pieter Wispelway at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule Düsseldorf, Gary Hoffman at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. A P.A.Testore cello has been loaned to him from the Munetsugu Collection.

Kyoko Yonemoto（Violin）

Born in Fukuoka in 1984, she began playing the violin at the age of three and took her first violin lessons from Akira Kajita. After she moved to Tokyo, she continued her studies with Ryo Date and Akuri Suzuki. At the age of six she entered the Music School for Children at Toho Gakuen School of Music, and thereafter she was mentored by Yoshio Unno. In 1997, at the age of thirteen, she became the youngest prize winner ever at the Paganini Competition in Italy. She later won first prize at the Music Competition of Japan in 2001 and the Paganini Moscow International Competition in 2006. She is also a prize winner at the Long-Thibaud, Queen Elisabeth and Fritz Kreisler violin competitions. In 2009 she was invited to perform the Paganini Concerto No.1 and the Vieuxtemps Concerto No.4 in the big hall of the Moscow Conservatory, accompanied by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. The following year she returned to Moscow to perform the Vieuxtemps Concerto No.5 with Pinchas Zukerman in the Kremlin. She moved to Europe in 2003 and started studying with Gérard Poulet at the Conservatoire National de Région and at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. In 2004 she began studying with Boris Belkin at the Maastricht Conservatorium in the Netherlands, where she completed her master’s degree. She also took part in the summer course at the Accademia Chigiana in Italy, and in 2012 she was invited to its winter series to perform all Brahms sonatas. In addition to regular appearances with most of major Japanese orchestras, she has also performed with international orchestras in Russia, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, and Taiwan, and collaborated with celebrated conductors such as Roberto Benzi, Myung-whun Chung, Gabriel Chmura, Yuri Bashmet, Eliahu Inbal, Hanns-Martin Schneidt, Günter Neuhold, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Kazuhiro Koizumi, Kenichiro Kobayashi, and Junichi Hirokami. She is also a noted chamber musician. She has recently worked with artists such as Jean-Claude Vanden Eiden, Pascal Moragues, Yuzuko Horigome and David Cohen. She also enjoys her collaboration with cellist Ayano Kamimura and pianist Yoko Kikuchi as a trio. She released her first album in March 2019 on KING INTERNATIONAL. This CD won the Excellence Award a recipient of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Since 2012 she has held a professor position at the Maastricht Conservatorium in the Netherlands. She plays a Stradivarius violin (1727), on loan from the Suntory Foundation for Arts.

Yoko Kikuchi（Piano）

In 2002, Yoko Kikuchi won the first prize at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, since then she has performed not only in Japan but also in Europe and has been one of the leading pianists in Japan.

After graduating from Toho Gakuen Music High school, she studied with Franco Scala and Stefano Fiuzzi at the “Incontri col Maestro” International Piano Academy in Imola.

She has performed with Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Berliner Symphoniker and others as well as Japanese major orchestras.

She also participated in several music festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and others.

She is also passionate about other forms of art and she recently collaborated with classical ballet dancers including Diana Vishneva, Miyako Yoshida and others.

Her debut CD (Mozart) was awarded the 18th Music Pen Club Prize"Best Recording by a Japanese Artist". Since then ten more CDs have been released.

In 2007, she received the 17th Idemitsu Music Award. She has been an artistic director of Maebashi Civic Cultural Hall since 2018.
www.yokokikuchipf.com

Ryoma Takagi（Piano）

In September 2018, Ryoma Takagi won the 1st prize and audience prize at The 16th Grieg International Competition.
He has performed at important venues around of the world such at Musikverein Golden Hall, Moscow Conservatory Great Hall, Kremlin Palace, Ukraine National Opera Theater, Wiener Konzerthaus, Schoenbrunn Palace, Roma Tetro Valle, Suntory Hall, Yokohama Minatomirai Hall, Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Hamamatsu Act City, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, etc.
He has also performed with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Kiev National Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Gunma Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Kenji Nakagi（Cello）

After studying at Tokyo University of the Arts, Kenji Nakagi moved to France in 2003 and graduated from Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP) and University of the Arts Bern, both with distinction.
Nakagi won several international music competitions including Witold Lutoslawski International Cello Competition. A edicated chamber musician, Nakagi has performed with great artists such as A.Chumachenco, B.Giuranna, C.Ivaldi, and E.Le Sage. He released CDs including J.S.Bach 6 Cello Suites.
Kenji Nakagi is an associate professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. With the support of Yellow Angel (NPO), he plays on a cello by Joseph Guarneri of 1700.