Sayaka SHOJI

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

(5*, Young Jin-Hur, Bachtrack, November 2019)

Sayaka Shoji has become internationally recognised for her unique artistic versatility and detailed approach to her chosen repertoire. Her remarkable insight into musical languages comes from her mix of European and Japanese backgrounds. Born in Tokyo, Shoji moved to Siena, Italy when she was three. She studied at 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 in 1999, Sayaka Shoji has been supported by leading conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Semyon Bychkov, Mariss Jansons and Yuri Temirkanov to name a few. 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 PhilharmonicOrchestra, among others.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include her concerts with San Francisco Symphony with Esa-Pekka Salonen, The Cleveland Orchestra with Kahchun Wong, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra with Jaap van Zweden, Tonkünstler-Orchester, and Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Shoji will also return to hr-Sinfonieorchester for a Japanese tour with their 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 in venues such as Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, and Hamburg Laeiszhalle.

Alongside her usual concert activities, Shoji has created an experimental visual-music project,Synesthesia in 2007, and exposed oil-paintings and video-art works. Her first video work (Shostakovich Prelude collaboration with P.Frament) was chosen in a group expositionAu-delà de mes rêves in 2014 among the most renown artists such as Y.Kusama, S.Calle and R.Longo. Shoji has also collaborated with Tadao Ando, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Saburo Teshigawara in numerous occasions.

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

Shoji won the Mainichi Art Award in 2016, one of Japan’s most prestigious awards, presented to those who have had a significant influence on the arts. 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 to her by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.

Jean-Jacques Kantorow

The French violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow began the violin at the age of 6 at the Nice Conservatoire. He was only 13 years old when he won a place at the prestigious Paris Conservatoire to study in René Benedetti’s class, and graduated one year later with a 1st prize.

From 1962 -68 Jean-Jacques won prizes in at least 10 international violin competitions, including 1st prizes in the Carl Flesh competition in London, and the Paganini competition in Genoa, and he was 1st winner in the Geneva and Tibor Varga competitions. In 1970 Jean-Jacques won a grant from the Sacha Schneider foundation.

As a concert violinist, Jean-Jacques has played all round the world giving over 100 concerts a year and receiving rave reviews; « Jean-Jacques Kantorow is a great violinist, a spectacular talent, the most prodigiously original violinist I have heard in this generation » ( Glenn Gould)

Jean-Jacques likes to play chamber music as an antidote to the sometimes lonely career of a soloist. With pianist Jacques Rouvier and cellist Philippe Muller he formed a trio which won 1st prize in the Colmar international chamber music competition in 1970. He was also a member of the Ludwig and Mozart string trios.

Since 1970 Jean- Jacques has held chairs teaching the violin in several Conservatoires, including Paris, Basel and Rotterdam, and given master classes all over the world. In 2019 he starts teaching regularly at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki for annual series of master classes.

To deepen his understanding of music, Jean- Jacques was naturally drawn to conducting. From 1983 he became Musical Director of several orchestras, including the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, the Granada Orchestra, the Auvergne Chamber Orchestra which he conducted for 10 years and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris.

Jean- Jacques has made over 170 recordings as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor, with numerous important record labels such as Denon, EMI, Erato, CBS, BIS etc. with many recordings receiving international awards.

Gordan Nikolic

Gordan Nikolić was born in Brus, Serbia in 1968 and began playing violin at the age of seven. He entered the Young Talent Institute at the age of 9.
He graduated with the highest acclaims at the Musikhochschule Basel in the class of Jean-Jacques Kantorow in 1990. He also studied with Walter Levin, Hans Werner Henze, Witold Lutoslawsky and György Kurtág, developing an interest in both baroque and contemporary music. He is the winner of several international awards, which include the Tibor Varga, Niccolò Paganini, Cità di Brescia, and Vaclaw Huml prizes.

After being leader of the Orchestre d’Auvergne, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and later with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the London Symphony Orchestra, he often conducted the Chamber Orchestra of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, Manchester Camerata, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Lille and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

In 2000, he was appointed “Prince Consort Professor” for string ensembles at the Royal College of Music. In September 2003, he became a professor at the Guilhall School of Music in London and the Royal College in Rotterdam. In 2017, he started teaching at the Hoschule für Musik in Sarrebruck.

In 2004, he became Artistic Director of the Nederlands Kamerorkest in Amsterdam. He was principal guest conductor at the Manchester Camerata, musical director of the Saint George Strings Chamber Orchestra in Belgrade and created the independent orchestra BandArt in Spain.

He has performed as a soloist with prestigious orchestras and under conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Arie van Beek, André Previn, Daniel Harding, Myung Wung Chung, Bernard Haitink, Laurence Foster, Marc Albrecht, Jakob Kreizberg.

Gordan Nikolic has made many recordings for various labels (Alpha, Pentatone, LSO Live, Olympia, BNL, Warner Classics, Onyx Classics) For the label Tacet, he recorded Gound’s symphonies as well as Mozart’s violin concerti and last symphonies.

Gordan Nikolic plays a Paul Belin made in 2016 and a Venetian Petrus Guarnerius kindly lent by an anonymous sponsor.

Kirill Troussov

Supported and mentored from a young age by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Kirill Troussov is now widely recognized as one of the most remarkable violinists of his generation. International press describes his playing as “… impressive elegance, flawless technique, exceptional musical sensitivity, and a tone of immaculate beauty….”

His collaborations with famous conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniele Gatti, Lawrence Foster, Jiri Belohlàvek, Michail Jurowski, David Stern, Christoph Poppen, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikko Frank, and Louis Langrée, as well as with major orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Radio Orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, Radio L’Orchestre Symphonique de Baden-Baden, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, have taken him to venues including the Tonhalle Zürich, Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, De Doelen, NCPA Beijing, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Auditorio Nacional de Musica Madrid, Verbier Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, and Menuhin Festival Gstaad.

His passion for chamber music and his friendships link Kirill Troussov to artists like Sol Gabetta, Yuja Wang, Daniel Hope, Joshua Bell, Gautier and Renaud Capuçon, Yuri Bashmet, Mischa Maisky, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Julian Rachlin, Christian Zacharias, and Natalia Gutman.

Notable highlights of his recent seasons include replacing Gidon Kremer in Paris, touring Asia with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, a spectacular performance at the BBC Proms, and his role as a jury member in international competitions — including the Schoenfeld International String Competition.

He has received awards such as the European Cultural Prize, the Yamaha Prize, and the Davidoff Prize from the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and has won several major international competitions.

Kirill regularly gives masterclasses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the European Music Institute in Vienna, St. Blasien, Berlin, or at the International Summer Academy of Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and has been re-invited as a jury member for the “Schoenfeld International String Competition” in China.

Since 2021, he has served as president and artistic director of the Hong Kong International Young Musicians Competition and as vice-president and artistic director of the Carl Flesch Competition in Hungary.

Kirill Troussov’s CD recordings — among others on EMI-Classics, Warner Classics, Dabringhaus & Grimm, Naxos, and Farao Classics — have been repeatedly awarded and praised by the international press.

Together with his sister, Alexandra Troussova, he has recorded several CDs: “Memories” (MDG), which was acclaimed by both the public and the international press, particularly by “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and “Diapason” magazine, “Emotions” (MDG, 2016), and a live album “Paris Recital” (Orchid Classics, 2023).

Since 2023, Orchid Classics has been releasing the “Kirill Troussov Live” series, where over 40 of his famous live concerts will be available on all streaming platforms. This series has already reached 2.5 million streams.

In 2024, Kirill Troussov founded the Sarasate Academy in Madrid (Spain) and the Engers Academy near Frankfurt (Germany). He also became the artistic advisor of the Kaposfest International Music Festival in Hungary and the artistic director of the Ammerseerenade International Music Festival near Munich in Germany.

Kirill Troussov studied with Zakhar Bron and Christoph Poppen. His mentors have included Igor Oistrach, Herman Krebbers, and Sir Yehudi Menuhin.

He plays the Antonio Stradivari “Brodsky” violin from 1702, on which the violinist Adolph Brodsky performed the world premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on December 4, 1881.

Founder and artistic director of the Sarasate Academy in Madrid
Founder and director of the Engers Academy near Frankfurt
President and artistic director of the Hong Kong Violin Competition
Vice-president and artistic director of the Carl Flesch Competition in Hungary
Artistic director of the Ammerseerenade Music Festival in Germany
Artistic director of the International Music Festival Pago de la Jaraba
Artistic advisor of the Kaposvar International Music Festival

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