Violine
Biography:
Kazuki Sawa
Kazuki Sawa is one of Japan's most important violinists with a remarkable career. After graduating from Tokyo Geidai (Tokyo University of Arts) with a Master of Arts and first prize (Ataka Award), he studied in London with György Pauk and Béla Katona. He has received numerous prizes at international competitions, including the ARD Music Competition in Munich (duo violin and piano with his wife, the pianist Emiko Tadenuma), the Long Thibaud Prize (Paris) and the Wieniawski Prize (Poland); he received the Ysaÿe Medal from the Ysaÿe Foundation in Belgium and a gold medal at the Bordeaux Festival in 1979.
In 1984 he returned to Japan and began his professional career there as a lecturer at the Tokyo Geidai and as a soloist and chamber musician. In 1994 he returned to London where he received a research fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music and worked with members of the Amadeus Quartet. This collaboration gave rise to the idea of founding the Sawa Quartet, which today is one of Japan's leading string quartets.
Kazuki Sawa is a guest at many music festivals including Kuhmo and Savonlinna (Finland), Bowdoin (USA), West Cork (Ireland) Lake District (UK). He is a jury member at various international competitions such as Tibor Varga (Sion), RNCM Manchester, Long-Thibaud and London String Quartet Competition.
Kazuki Sawa is also an acclaimed violist and has worked with notable artists such as the Amadeus Quartet and the Henschel Quartet. He is Professor at Tokyo Geidai, Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music and Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music; he is conductor of the Kioi Sinfonietta (Tokyo) and the Tokyo Strings; In 2003 he became the musical advisor of the Hibiki Strings (Japan). Kazuki Sawa plays a violin made by Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu in 1732, known as »Arkwright«.
Albums:
Merry Christmas – Traditional and New Christmas Music:
Fracture – Mendelssohn Bartholdy:
