Kyoko Kashiwagi

violin

Kyoko Kashiwagi is an avid chamber musician as well as an experienced orchestral player. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, and raised in Tokyo, she began taking violin lessons at an early age. By the time she finished elementary school, she had a modest dream of pursuing a career in music. She was accepted at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music where she studied with Koichiro Harada, the original first violinist of the famed Tokyo String Quartet. While attending school, she won the concerto competition and performed Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto. Mr. Harada was an inspiring figure to Ms. Kashiwagi and with his encouragement, she decided to take an audition to study at The Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay, Joseph Fuchs, and Joel Smirnoff of The Juilliard String Quartet. There, she met her future colleagues and formed the Amernet String Quartet. As first violinist of the quartet, she led the group to win first prize at the Fifth Banff International String Quartet Competition (1995), Tokyo Music Competition (1995), and Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, among others. The Amernet Quartet studied with the Tokyo Quartet and members of the LaSalle Quartet at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. They received multiple awards and performed throughout the United States, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, and Switzerland, and also have been invited to perform at Aspen, Newport, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Norfolk, Lucerne, and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart music festivals. After leaving the quartet, she moved to Michigan where she teaches privately and performs as a member of the Muse Ensemble as well as with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.