Japanese classical musicians return to Shetland to perform

Classical pianist Mami Shikimori and master violinst Masayuki Kino return to Shetland this week to perform a programme of works, including Kreisler, Falla, Khachaturian and Wieniawski.

The concert will take place in the Lerwick Town Hall at 7.30pm tomorrow.

Kino has had a long and illustrious career including performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He has won numerous awards including the top prize and an Audience Award at the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition in London and received the award for exceptional salon music at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition.

In Japan, after finishing his career as the concertmaster for the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Kino became concertmaster for the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in April 1993 and since July 2002 has played as the solo concertmaster for this orchestra.

Along with his numerous lectures at international venues around the world, Kino teaches at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, Musashino Academia Musicae and the Tokyo College of Music.

Shikimori gained numerous distinctions during her studies at Purcell School of Music and Royal College of Music, graduating with the highest honours as well as the Hopkinson Gold Medal and other major prizes for solo piano.

She also won the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Prize for Outstanding Diploma Recital for which she was awarded the maximum mark as well as gaining the highest distinction of all students graduating in 1999, and additionally won the Principal’s Special Award for solo piano. Thereafter, she won a full scholarship to attend Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

Hailed by Japan’s foremost newspaper The Daily Yomiuri for her “astonishing beauty of tone and virtuoso technique”, she has given recitals at numerous world-renowned concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, London’s St John’s, Smith Square, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and in 2008 gave a highly-acclaimed solo recital at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. She has also played at London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields and at the Goethe Institute in Bangkok.

During her varied career as a solo recitalist, chamber music player and concert soloist, Shikimori has performed with such notable ensembles as Japan’s Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and with conductors including Alexander Walker, Adrian Shepherd, Keith Marshall and Yukio Kitahara

Shetland Arts music development officer Bryan Peterson said: “This is an exceptional opportunity for local audiences to experience a performance by two of the world’s foremost instrumentalists in the grand surroundings of the town hall. Truly a concert not to be missed.”