Sayaka Shoji

VIOLINIST

News

Coming soon! 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...

#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...

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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.

“”

“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

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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

October 11

REYKJAVIK (Iceland) – Harpa Concert Hall

Tchaikovsky : Violin Concerto

Klaus Mäkelä / Iceland Symphony Orchestra

November 4

ALMATY (Kazakhstan)

Sibelius : Vn Concerto

Orchestra Simfonica del Conservatorio Nacional Kurmangazi de Almaty

November 5

BISHKEK (Kazakhstan)

Sibelius : Vn Concerto

Orchestra Simfonica del Conservatorio Nacional Kurmangazi de Almaty