KYOKO TAKEZAWA, violin
EDOARDO MARIA STRABBIOLI, piano
BRAHMS: Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78
PROKOFIEV: Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80
RAVEL: Tzigane
Following her victory at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Kyoko Takezawa began a career that has led her to perform with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Cleveland, Baltimore, Saint Louis, Houston, Toronto, Dallas, Montreal, Detroit and Cincinnati, as well as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, BBC orchestras, London Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Orchestre National de Radio France, NHK Symphony Orchestra and New Japan Philharmonic.
Over the years, she has worked with leading conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, David Zinman, Sir Neville Marriner, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowski, Riccardo Chailly and Sir Andrew Davis. She has performed at major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the BBC Proms in London, the Musikverein and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
A highly accomplished chamber musician, Kyoko Takezawa has appeared at the La Jolla Music Festival, Saratoga Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Hong Kong and Taipei international chamber music festivals, Great Mountain Music Festival and Spring Festival in Korea. She is a regular guest at the Martha Argerich Festival in Beppu, Japan. As co-director of the Suntory Hall Soloists Festival in Tokyo, she collaborated with the late Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman and Wolfgang Sawallisch.
Highlights of recent seasons include performances with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Mito Chamber Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, as well as a chamber music performance with Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky and Antonio Pappano at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, broadcast by RAI and ARTE.
She regularly performs in recital with pianist Edoardo Strabbioli, with whom she will undertake an Italian tour in January, appearing at major concert venues in Genoa, Florence, Milan and Treviso. Her most recent engagements include a tour of China with the exclusive “Friendship Trio” project alongside Myung-Whun Chung and Jian Wang, and a solo violin tour of Japan dedicated to J. S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas.
She served on the jury of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition in 2021 and the Seoul International Music Competition in 2022.
Kyoko Takezawa has an extensive discography, recently expanded with a recording of the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas with pianist Itamar Golan for Sony Music Japan.
BMG’s RCA Victor Red Seal label has released her recordings of the Romance and Violin Concerto, Op. 14, with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Elgar’s Violin Concerto with Sir Colin Davis and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with Klaus Peter Flor and the Bamberg Symphony.
Kyoko Takezawa teaches at the Toho Music School and Tokyo College of Music in Japan and has served on the juries of the Indianapolis, Menuhin and Wieniawski international violin competitions. She has received the prestigious Idemitsu Award for outstanding musicianship and the Aichi Art Cultural Award.
She plays an Antonio Stradivari violin made in 1724.
Photo © 松永学
