Naoko Shimizu (Viola)Naoko Shimizu gained high recognition for placing first in the 1997 Munich International Music Competition Viola Division, becoming the first person in 21 years to win this prize since Yuri Bashmet. She has also won the International Markneukirchen Competition in 1995, second prize (being the highest prize as no first prize was awarded) in the 1996 Geneva International Music Competition as well as the Orchard Hall Award. In 1998, she passed the Young Concert Artists International Audition at the top of the list. She is also the recipient of many other honors.
Shimizu studied violin under Etsuko Hirose and Toshiya Eto at the Toho Gakuen College of Music, and viola under Nobuo Okada. In 1993, she transferred her major to viola, and completed her studies in the research division. From 1994, she attended the Academy of Music in Detmold Germany studying under Nobuko Imai.
In the year 1994, she participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival, winning the CD Jackson Prize. From 1995 to 1998, she participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, the Guarneri Quartet, the Julliard Quartet, and collaborated with the members of the Beaux Arts Trio. She also participated in the American tour of the Marlboro Music Festival in 1997, 1999 and 2000. In 1996, she appeared with the Tokyo Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in the Orchard Hall’s “Great Artists of the Future Concert”. She has also performed repeatedly with many domestic and foreign orchestras such as the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the SDR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, and the Frankfurt Opernhouse and Museum Orchestra. In 1998, she won the Osaka Cultural Festival Award. In 1999, she gave debut recitals in New York and Washington DC, making her concerto debut in New York in 2000. She also performs widely in Europe to this present day.
Since February of 2001, she has expanded her career serving as the principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In June 2003, she will appear with the Berlin Philharmonic Octet in Japan, performing Brahms’ String Sextet No.1, and also with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra (Junichi Kokami conducting) performing “Harold in Italy”. In October, she is scheduled to perform with the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra (Bartok) and the Halle Orchestra (Walton) in November.
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