Biography

“Shoji’s unembellished and direct, partly soft-grained, and partly determined bowing, was immaculately integrated with the Philharmonia.” – Young Jin-Hur, Bachtrack

Sayaka Shoji has become internationally recognised for her unique artistic versatility and detailed approach to her repertoire. Her remarkable insight into musical languages comes from her mix of European and Japanese backgrounds. Born in Tokyo, Shoji moved to Siena, Italy at the age of three. She studied at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and Cologne’s Musikhochschule and made her European debut with Lucerne Festival Strings and Rudolf Baumgartner at the Lucerne Festival, and then at the Musikverein, Vienna, at the age of fourteen.

Since winning first prize at the Paganini Competition (1999), Shoji has been supported by leading conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Semyon Bychkov, Mariss Jansons, and Yuri Temirkanov. She has also worked with renowned orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Mariinsky Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include concerts with San Francisco Symphony (Esa-Pekka Salonen), The Cleveland Orchestra (Kahchun Wong), Evergreen Symphony Orchestra (Jaap van Zweden), Tonkünstler-Orchester, and Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Shoji will also return to hr-Sinfonieorchester for a Japanese tour with Chief Conductor Alain Altinoglu.

As an active chamber musician, in addition to 15 years of collaboration with Gianluca Cascioli, she has a long-standing collaboration with many artists including Modigliani Quartet, Benjamin Grosvenor, Beatrice Rana, Kian Soltani, Steven Isserlis, Stephen Kovacevich, and Vikingur Olafsson. Shoji regularly appears in recital at venues such as Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, and Hamburg Laeiszhalle.

Alongside her concert activities, Shoji created the experimental visual-music project Synesthesia (2007) and presented oil-paintings and video-art works. Her first video work (Shostakovich Prelude collaboration with P. Frament) was chosen for the Au-delà de mes rêves group exposition (2014) alongside artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Sophie Calle, and Rebecca Longo. She has also collaborated with Tadao Ando, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Saburo Teshigawara on numerous occasions.

A prolific recording artist, Shoji has released eleven albums on Deutsche Grammophon, including Prokofiev, Sibelius, and Beethoven Violin Concertos with St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov. Previous recordings include a recital album with Menahem Pressler. In February 2025, she releases a second volume of Mozart with Gianluca Cascioli, following her Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin album.

Shoji won the Mainichi Art Award (2016), one of Japan’s most prestigious awards, and in 2012, Nikkei Business named her one of the 100 Most Influential People for Japan in the Future.

Sayaka Shoji plays a Stradivarius ‘Recamier’ c.1729, kindly loaned by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.