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

Life

Born in

Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, 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 populat ...

, 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 a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

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

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

, 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 ...

, and

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

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 a ...

. 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 in Amsterdam, in Paris, the

Royal Library of Belgium The Royal Library of Belgium ( ; ; , abbreviated ''KBR'' and sometimes nicknamed in French or in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history that goes back to the age of the Duke of Burgundy, Dukes of Burgundy. In ...

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 world renowned Japanese cellist. In an international career which began in 1954, Tsutsumi has performed and recorded all of the principal standard works in the cello repertoire, both solo and concerto. He has ap ...

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. Aft ...

and Katsumi Ueda, Akiyoshi Sako, Hiroyuki Iwai, Ken'ichirō Kobayashi, Naoto Ōtomo and Jun'ichi Hirokami, as well as with the

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra The (also known as Tokyō (都響)) is a Japanese orchestra based in Tokyo. Their offices are based at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, a concert venue owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The orchestra performs regularly at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Su ...

, the

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra The (TSO) is a Japanese orchestra, administratively based in Kawasaki. The orchestra offers subscription concert series at its home, the Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall and at Suntory Hall, the Concert Hall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, ...

, the

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

, 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 was founded as the ''New Symphony Orchestr ...

, 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 The ...

, 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 Bavaria ...

, the

Orchestre National de Bretagne The Orchestre National de Bretagne (ONB) is a French symphony orchestra, based in the Brittany region. The current general manager of the ONB is Marc Feldman. History The orchestra was founded in 1989 as the ''Orchestre de Bretagne'', and reta ...

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 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 v ...

in Poland. * 2003 : Second prize at the Concours de musique de chambre Premio Trio in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, 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". Early years Born in Liège, Ysaÿe began ...

(ALM RECORDS / Kojima Recordings)

References

External links

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