Nobuko Imai - viola
Schiermonnikoog Masterclasses
breeding place for young classic talent
16 March – 23 March 2012
Nobuko Imai - viola (accompanied by Katsura Mizumoto - piano)
Nobuko Imai is considered to be one of the most outstanding viola players of our time. After finishing her studies at the Toho School of Music, Yale University and the Juilliard School, she won the highest prizes at both the Munich and the Geneva international competitions.
Formerly a member of the esteemed Vermeer Quartet, Ms. Imai now combines a distinguished international solo career appearing with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, London Symphony, the BBC orchestras, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Boston Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony, along with teaching at the Conservatory in Amsterdam and Geneva, where she is a Professor.
A keen chamber musician, Miss Imai has often performed with such distinguished names as Gidon Kremer, Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Andràs Schiff, Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman. In addition she has toured with Midori, Ronald Brautigam, and accordionist Mie Miki for recitals. Her trio combinations include concerts with Pamela Frank and Clemens Hagen, and Mihaela Martin and Frans Helmerson. In 2003 she formed the Michelangelo quartet with Mihaela Martin, Stephan Picard and Frans Helmerson. The 2003 debut concerts of the quartet in the Amsterdam Concergebouw were met with great success leading to many engagements in halls such as Theatre des Champs-Elysees and the Tonhalle, Zurich, and at festivals such as Edinburgh, Naantali and the Tokyo edition of La Folle Journée de Nantes.
Nobuko Imai appears regularly at Marlboro Festival, Lockenhaus, the Casals Festival, Saito Kinen Festival, Aldeburgh, the BBC Proms, and Verbier Festival. Together with Yuri Bashmet, Kim Kashkashian and Tabea Zimmermann she was one of the four violists featured at the International Viola Festival in Kronberg. She returns to Japan several times a year, to perform as soloist and notably for the annual "Viola Space" project, which she founded in 1992 and where she now serves as Artistic Adviser.
Katsura Mizumoto – piano
Katsura Mizumoto was born in Sapporo (Japan). At the age of three she received her first pianolessons by her mother and afterwards continued her studies in her hometown with Mr. Miyazawa and Mrs. Nakagawa.After studying economy at the university of Sapporo, she decided to continue her musical education in the west.
At the Musikhochschule of Frankfurt she obtained the diploma of “ Kunstlerische Ausbildung” with the maximum score en congratulations of the jury in the class of Professor H. Seidel for piano and Professor R. Hoffmann for chamber music.
Paul Badura Skoda, Leon Fleisher, Lev Natochniney and Vitaly Margulis, with whom she followed various masterclasses were of major influence on her playing.
She won various first prizes on international contests: the DAADcontest in Germany, the pianocontest A.M.A. Calabria in Italy, the Mendelssohncontest in Berlin and the Durletcontest in Belgium. She was also semifinalist in the Margritte Long – Thibaudcontest in Paris.
Katsura Mizumoto has given recitals in famous concerthalls in Europe, such as the PSK in Brussels, the Salle Fauré in Paris, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and she has performed as a solist with various orchestras in Europe, the USA and Japan.
Amongst her partners in chamber music are Charles Neidich, Michael Sanderling, members of the Alban Berg Quartett, Manderling Quartett, Yuzuko Horigome, Christian Altenburger,Mayu Kishima and others.
Katsura Mizumoto teached at the Musikhochule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt untill 2009 and currently teaches at the Royal Conservaotry for Music in Brussels.