Asuka Sezaki (born 1977) is a Japanese classical violinist who made an international career.

Life

Born in

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

, in the eponymous prefecture, Sezaki began to play the violin at age six. She studied violin at the

Tokyo University of the Arts or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

where she graduated as the head of her class. She further studied violin at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, on a scholarship by the Cultural Agency of Japan, in the class of

Régis Pasquier Régis Pasquier (born 12 October 1945) is a French violinist from a family of musicians. His father Pierre Pasquier (1902–1986), a violist and his uncles Jean (1903), a violinist, and Étienne (1905–1997), a cellist, had founded a string trio, ...

and

Jean-Jacques Kantorow Jean-Jacques Kantorow (born 3 October 1945) is a French violinist and conductor. His son is the pianist Alexandre Kantorow. Biography Kantorow was born in Cannes, France, into a family of Russian-Jewish origin. From the age of 13 he studied a ...

, and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

with

Christian Ivaldi Christian Ivaldi (born 2 September 1938) is a French pianist. Ivaldi was born in Paris. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Jacques Février and took a Premier Prix in piano performance, as well as in chamber music, counterpoint, and accom ...

. For her first recital, in 1992, she performed Paganini's '' Twenty-four caprices''. She has been invited, in France, to the festivals of Bourgogne and Reims as well as to the Festival de musique de l'Orangerie de Sceaux. She has given recitals at the

Royal Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb Architectural acoustics, acoustics place it among the ...

in Amsterdam, in Paris, the

Royal Library of Belgium The Royal Library of Belgium (french: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, abbreviated ''KBR'' and sometimes nicknamed in French or in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history t ...

of Brussels, England, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and the United States. Sezaki has played with violinists Kantorow and Pasquier, cellists

Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi (born July 28, 1942 in Tokyo) is a Japanese cellist. He started to study music under the tutorship of Hideo Saito, founder of the Tokyo Conservatory."Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi", Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Tsutsumi made his debut as celli ...

and Noboru Kamimura, pianists

Jean-Claude Pennetier Jean-Claude Pennetier (born 16 May 1942) is a French classical pianist. Biography Born in Châtellerault, Pennetier began studying the piano at the age of three and later entered the Conservatoire de Paris in piano and chamber music classes. A ...

and Katsumi Ueda, Akiyoshi Sako, Hiroyuki Iwai,

Ken'ichirō Kobayashi Ken'ichirō, Kenichirō, Kenichiro or Kenichirou (written: , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese video game composer and electronic musician *, Japanese sp ...

, Naoto Ōtomo and Jun'ichi Hirokami, as well as with the

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra The , also known as Tokyō (都響), is one of the representative symphony orchestras of Japan. The Orchestra was founded in 1965 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics (1964 Summer Olympics). Currently Kazushi O ...

, the

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra The or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra (東宝交響楽団). It assumed its present name in 1951. Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as pit orchestra for some productions at Ne ...

, the

Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa The is a professional chamber orchestra, founded in 1988, based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, and is a full member of the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras. The Orchestra's home is Ishikawa Ongakudō (Ishikawa Music Hall). Since 2007, ...

, the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra began as the ''New Symphony Orchestra'' o ...

, the

Poznań Philharmonic Tadeusz Szeligowski Poznań Philharmonic is a regional cultural institution founded in 1947 on the initiative of Tadeusz Szeligowski as the State Philharmonic in Poznań; one of the two philharmonics in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. History T ...

, the

Munich Radio Orchestra The Munich Radio Orchestra (German: ''Münchner Rundfunkorchester'') is a German symphony broadcast orchestra based in Munich. It is one of the two orchestras affiliated with the Bavarian Radio (Bayerischer Rundfunk), the other being the Bavarian ...

, the

Orchestre National de Bretagne The Orchestre National de Bretagne (ONB) is a French symphony orchestra. Previously named the "Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne", it obtains the national label in October 2019. Before April 2012, it was simply called "Orchestre de Bretagne". ...

and the Ensemble Camerata de Bourgogne. Thanks to her first prize won at the Concours Stradivarius de la Bourse Forval, Sezaki was able to play for two years on the 1697 Rainville Stradivarius, an instrument received on loan by this foundation.

Prizes

* 1995 : First prize at the , with three special prizes * 1995 : Third prize at the

International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart in Augsburg The International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart in Augsburg is an international violin competition, held every three years in commemoration of Leopold Mozart (1719–1787), the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is the goal of the competit ...

in Germany. * 1996 : Fourth prize at the

Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition The International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (Polish: ''Międzynarodowy Konkurs Skrzypcowy im. Henryka Wieniawskiego'') is a competition for violinists up to age 30 that takes place every five years in Poznań, Poland, in honor of the vi ...

in Poland. * 2003 : Second prize at the

Concours de musique de chambre Premio Trio Concours may refer to: * Concours d'Elegance, a competition among car owners on the appearance of their cars * EU Concours, a selection process for staff of the EU institutions * A competitive examination * Cadillac Concours, an automobile model * ...

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, also the A. Valdovino prize for a piece by Schubert * 2003 : prix Académie Maurice Ravel : prix de la Ville de Ciboure * 2005 : Concours Stradivarius de la Bourse Forval : first prize. * 2007 : Grand Prix du Disque des Arts for her first record with the six sonatas by

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Legend of the Ysaÿe violin Eugène Ysaÿe ...

(ALM RECORDS / Kojima Recordings)

References

External links

* * Japanese classical violinists Japanese women violinists Women classical violinists 1977 births Living people Tokyo University of the Arts alumni Conservatoire de Paris alumni People from Kumamoto {{DEFAULTSORT:Sezaki, Asuka