Tomoko Akasaka

Tomoko Akasaka is an extraordinarily versatile violist, admired internationally for the refinement of her tone, the depth of her expressiveness, and her commanding stage presence. Equally at home as a soloist and a chamber musician, she has received numerous awards, including first prize at the 12th Japan Classical Music Competition and third prize at the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich. As a soloist, Akasaka has performed with leading orchestras such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Münchner Kammerorchester, the Kremerata Baltica, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Her collaborations have led her to work with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Domingo Garcia Hindoyan, Johannes Kalitzke, Douglas Boyd, Kazuki Yamada, Roman Kofman, and Günther Herbig. Akasaka is also a highly sought-after chamber musician. She has performed alongside leading artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Emmanuel Pahud, Daniel Hope, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ray Chen, and Philippe Jaroussky, and with ensembles such as the Quatuor Ébène, the Jerusalem Quartet, and the Kuss Quartet. Her festival appearances span many of the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Verbier Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Lockenhaus Festival, the Kissinger Sommer, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Kronberg Festival, and the Schubertiade. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, she has maintained close artistic ties with composers such as György Kurtág and Toshio Hosokawa, contributing to the creation and performance of a new repertoire for viola. Akasaka has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Wiener Musikverein, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Wigmore Hall in London, the Konzerthaus and the Philharmonie in Berlin, Schloss Elmau, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Her recent recital tours in Switzerland, France, Poland, Italy, Germany, and Japan have received exceptional critical acclaim, and her recital series in Tokyo was broadcast nationwide by NHK. Deeply committed to education, she regularly serves on the juries of major international competitions such as the Geneva International Music Competition, the Max Rostal International Competition at the Berlin University of the Arts, and the Kronberg Academy. A former student and assistant to Nobuko Imai at the Geneva Conservatory, she has held teaching positions in Düsseldorf and Leipzig and served as a visiting professor at the Neuchâtel Conservatory. Since 2019, she has been a professor of viola at the Musikhochschule in Münster.