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Kyoko Takezawa
“Kyoko Takezawa is an operatic diva of the violin...” Emotional power, musical sensitivity, flawless technique, and a tone remarkable for its haunting beauty are the qualities that have established KYOKO TAKEZAWA as one of today's foremost violinists. Ms. Takezawa's interpretive insight and virtuosity, which are matched by a riveting platform manner, have made her a sought-after soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras. Ms. Takezawa has performed as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Cleveland, Baltimore, St. Louis, Houston, Toronto, Dallas, Montreal, Detroit, and Cincinnati. Abroad, she has been heard with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, London Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, Dresden Staatskappelle, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, NHK Symphony, and the New Japan Philharmonic. She has collaborated with some of the most distinguished conductors of our time, including Seiji Ozawa, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Sir Neville Marriner, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, and Andrew Davis. She has performed at major venues around the world, notably Carnegie Hall in New York; the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; London's BBC Proms; and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She has also performed at summer festivals including Aspen Music Festival , Ravinia Music Festival , Blossom Festival , Hollywood Bowl Festival , Mann Music Center , Grand Teton Festival , La Jolla Chamber Music Fest in US , Schleswig-Holstein Muisk Festival in Germnay and Proms Festival in London. A prolific recording artist, Ms. Takezawa can be heard on BMG's RCA Victor Red Seal label. Her most recent recording is a performance of the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14, by Samuel Barber with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Takezawa's other highly acclaimed BMG recordings include the Elgar Violin Concerto with Sir Colin Davis and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Bartok with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra; and the Mendelssohn Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with Klaus Peter Flor and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Takezawa's CD of French violin sonatas was selected as one of the best recordings of 1993 by Stereo Review. Ms. Takezawa's chamber music performances have also drawn high praise, and as co-director of the Suntory Festival Soloists of Suntory Hall in Tokyo, she has collaborated with Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Joseph Suk and other distinguished artists. In recent seasons, she has performed at the Aspen Festival and at the first Taipei Chamber music Festival with Cho-Liang Lin. Ms. Takezawa began violin studies at the age of three and at seven toured the United States, Canada, and Switzerland as a member of the Suzuki Method Association. In 1982 she placed first in the 51st Annual Japan Music Competition, and at 17 she entered the Aspen Music School to study with Dorothy DeLay, the celebrated violin pedagogue, with whom Ms. Takezawa continued to study at The Juilliard School until graduating in 1989. In 1986 she was awarded the Gold Medal at the Second Quadrennial International Violin Competition in Indianapolis and, most recently, she received the prestigious Idemitsu Award for outstanding musicianship. Ms. Takezawa, who performs on the Antonio Stradivarius"Camposelice"(1710), generously provided by the Nippon Music Foundation, lives in New York.
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