Akiko
Suwanai is a Japanese violinist and teacher born (in Tokyo) on February 7,
1972. Suwanai won the Tchaikovsky violin
competition at age 18 (1990) and is well-known for playing one of Heifetz’ old
violins, the Dolphin Stradivarius of 1714. She initially studied in Tokyo with Toshiya
Eto. Eventually she moved to the U.S
where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Cho Liang Lin at Juilliard. Then she moved to Berlin to study with Uwe
Martin Haiberg at the Advanced School of Art (the University of Art.) Suwanai has since solidly established her
career, gaining praise from critics and audiences throughout the world. She frequently tours with top orchestras, but
mostly in Europe. She soloed with the
New York Philharmonic on November 20, 1997, playing the Mendelssohn concerto –
the one in e minor. Suwanai first
performed with the Berlin Philharmonic on September 12, 2000, playing Ravel’s
Tzigane. She was 28 years old. Charles Dutoit was on the podium. She opened the Shanghai Spring International
Music Festival in 2009, being the first Japanese violinist invited to do
so. She has recorded with the Academy of
St Martin in the Fields, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra
of Europe, among others. Suwanai also
teaches master classes occasionally. As
far as I know, Suwanai presently has her home base in Paris. Paris, New York, Berlin, Rome, and London are
probably the most popular cities for concert violinists to work from. Here is a YouTube video of her playing (in
the orchestra) with a few other musicians at the Louvre. And another is here at the same concert,
playing the double concerto by Bach.
Among her collaborators at the concert are Manrico Padovani, Sergey
Khachatryan, Viviane Hagner, Hyun-su Shin, Manuela Janke, Steven Isserlis, and
Arabella Steinbacher. There are many
other videos of Suwanai in concert on YouTube.
The photo is courtesy of Leslie Kee.
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