News
New album release – September 2018
On 26th September, Sayaka's new album will be released from Deutsche Grammophon. Beethoven Violin Concerto op.61 & Sibelius Violin Concerto op.47 with Yuri Temirkanov and St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra Stay tuned!
Interview – June 2018
Interview on Actual de Cluj At the end of March, in the beginning of the spring, the Transylvania State Philharmonic announced a "big event": violinist Sayaka Shoji, "a superstar of the international musical scene", came to Cluj. The young artist who played in...
Missed concert in Vienna?
On 18 May 2018 at 19:30 You can listen to the past concert from Musikverein Sayaka playing Bernstein's Serenade + 2 encores of Paganini on "Das Ö1 Konzert" Click here to listen!
#BernsteinAt100 in Vienna
Sayaka Shoji will perform Bernstein's Serenade with Yutaka Sado at Musikverein Vienna on May 5 & 6 2018
Interview – La Vanguardia
March 2018 Sayaka talks to La Vanguardia about Beethoven Vn Concerto and more in Barcelona. Click here to see the article
Respighi Concerto
March 2018 Article about the concerts with G.Noseda & Santa Cecilia Orchestra at Parco della Musica, Rome (March 3 2018) Click here to read Giornale della Musica
About
“A formidable musician, able to draw on huge reserves of stamina and the unflinching equal of anything thrown at her” (Gramophone)
First Prize winner at the 1999 Paganini Competition – the first Japanese and youngest artist ever to do so, Sayaka Shoji has been performing with the world’s leading conductors including Yuri Temirkanov, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Mariss Jansons, Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, Riccaldo Chailly, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Paavo Järvi and Sir Antonio Pappano.
Recent engagements include Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Osmo Vänskä), The Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev), NDR Sinfonieorchester (Krzysztof Urbański), Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Gianandrea Noseda), Tonkustler Orchestra (Yutaka Sado), NHK Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Ashkenazy), and St Petersburg Philharmonic (Yuri Temirkanov). She also performs the Violin Concerto by Krzysztof Penderecki conducted by the composer himself.
Sayaka’s long-time mentor and supporter, Yuri Termikanov, invited her regularly since 2001. They have toured together in Russia, UK, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Latvia, Italy, Mexico, Japan and USA. In 2012 they recorded Prokofiev’s Violin Concertos, and in 2017 Beethoven & Sibelius Violin Concertos, both albums for Deutsche Grammophon.
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“Shoji isn’t merely a superb technician, she’s a deeply engaging performer”
Gramophone
Born in Tokyo and spent her early childhood in Siena, Italy, Sayaka has started studying the violinat age of 5. From 1995 until 2000, she studied at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana under Uto Ughi and Riccardo Brengola. At the age of 13, she went to Germany for a year to study with Saschko Gawriloff. In 1998, she moved to Germany to study at Hochschule für Musik Köln under Zakhar Bron and graduated in 2004.
In 1997, she made her debut at Lucerne Festival and Musikverein in Vienna with Rudolf Baumgartner. Two years later, she took the First Prize at the 1999 Paganini Competition. Zubin Mehta has been her strong supporter. When Shoji auditioned for him in 2000, he immediately changed his schedule in order to make her first recording with the Israel Philharmonic possible in the following month, then invited her to perform with Bavarian State Opera and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Since then many prominent orchestras have invited Shoji, including Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and WDR Symphony Orchestra.
Sayaka appears regularly as a recitalist and chamber musician at festivals such as Verbier, Annecy, Ravenna, Prague Spring, Settimane Musicale di Chigiana, Beethovenfest Bonn and Rencontres Musicales d’Evian. She recently gave a recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall which included a new commission solo violin work by Toshio Hosokawa. In 2014, She also toured with Menahem Pressler and their collaboration was documented in a live recording. Sayaka and pianist Gianluca Cascioli have completed recording of all Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin in 2015.
Sayaka plays the 1729 Recamier Stradivarius – kindly loaned to her by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.
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“Shoji strikes primarily by her intense playing and its unique sound that manages to touch the soul directly.”
Opus Klassiek
Media
Gallery
Recordings
Beethoven & Sibelius Violin Concertos
Yuri Temirkanov, St Petersburg Philharmonic
Sayaka Shoji & Menahem Pressler – Live
Menahem Pressler
Prokofiev Violin Concertos 1 & 2
Yuri Temirkanov, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic
Beethoven Sonatas for Piano & Violin No. 5 & 6 & 10
Gianluca Cascioli
Beethoven complete sonatas for Piano & Violin 2 & 9
Gianluca Cascioli
Prelude SAYAKA
Prokofiev Violin Sonatas / Shostakovich Preludes
Itamar Golan
Shostakovich Violin Concertos
Dmitri Liss
Tchaikovsky & Mendelssohn Violin Concertos
Myung-Whun Chung, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Beethoven Sonatas for Piano & Violin No.7 & 8
Gianluca Cascioli
Beethoven Sonatas for Piano & Violin No.1 & 3 & 4
Gianluca Cascioli
Verbier Festival – Highlights 2007
Renaud Capucon, Helene Grimaud, Misha Maisky
Bach & Reger Works for Violin Solo
Live at the Louvre
Itamar Golan
Paganini Violin Concerto No.1 / Waxman / Chausson
Zubin Mehta, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Schedule
November 27
Cardiff (UK) – St David’s Hall
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
November 28
London (UK) – Royal Festival Hall
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
November 30
Cambridge (UK) – Corn Exchange
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
December 6
Orleans (France) – Salle de l’institut
Recital
Beethoven, Bartok, Janacek, Brahms
Francois Dumont, piano
December 13
Vilagarcia de Arousa (Spain)
Recital
Beethoven, Bartok, Brahms
Suzana Bartal, piano
2020
January 25
Hyogo (Japan)
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1
Esa Pekka Salonen, conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
January 28
Tokyo (Japan) – Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1
Esa Pekka Salonen, conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
February 17
Geneva (Switzerland) – Salle Centrale Madeleine
Prokofiev: 5 Melodies
Brahms: Violin Sonata No.2
Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat
Ilya Rashkovskyi, piano
Pascal Moragues, clarinette
March 6,7,8
Tokyo (Japan) – Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre
Sylvestrov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Part …
Saburo Teshigawara & Rihoko Sato , dance
March 12
Nagoya (Japan) – Aichi Prfectural Art Theatre
Sylvestrov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Part …
Saburo Teshigawara & Rihoko Sato , dance
March 19
Montecarlo
Chausson: Concerto for Violin, Piano & St Quartet
Nicholas Angelich, piano
Quartuor Modigliani
April 3 , 4
Paris (France) – Maison du Japon
Recital & projection of Video “Synesthesia”
Suzana Bartal, piano
SYNESTHESIA
An experimental visual art project
As an interpreter, Sayaka’s passion is to transform her musical perception into different forms. Alongside her concert activities, she has started the “Synesthesia” project since 2007 to illustrate how her impression can transform into visual form of expression.
The video was exposed at Galerie Mondapart in Paris and Lyon Biennale 2014.
