Yoko Hasegawa |
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| Yoko Hasegawa studied under Yoritoyo Inoue
at the “Music School for Children” (affiliated to the Toho Gakuen College of Music)
from the age of 9. At the age of 15, in the year she entered the Toho Gakuen School of
Music High School Division, she came out second in the 54th Japan Music Competition.. In
1987, she held her debut recital under the “Fresh Artist Series” sponsored by the
Ongaku-No-Tomo-Sha. In 1988, she performed her first concerto at the New Year’s Concert with the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenichiro Kobayashi. The same year, she entered Toho Gakuen College of Music. During this period, she became an artist under contract for Victor Entertainment and released her debut album, “Yoko Hasegawa Plays Her Favorites”. The CD ranked first place on the top-sellers chart for classical music, making her the first Japanese cellist ever to achieve this remarkable result. In 1989, she was sent to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki as an overseas trainee by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, where she studied under Prof. Arto Noras. (She returned to Japan in 1992 upon graduating summa cum laude.) In 1990, she won the special prize at the Mstislav Rostropovich International Cello Competition. In addition to performing with the major orchestras of Japan, Hasegawa has been invited to perform as a soloist with foreign orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France (conducted by M. Janowski), the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, Wien Konzertverein Chamber Orchestra、and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Vassily Sinaisky), and has been highly praised for her musicality. Also active in holding recitals, in 1993 and 1999, she appeared in the “Cello Concert Series in Tribute to Pablo Casals” at Casals Hall. In 1995, she participated in the Opening Gala Concert of the Kioi Hall, and also held her own recital in the same hall. In recent years, she has been on tours in Japan performing in an ensemble with Pascal Roge, a collaboration which won high acclaim. In 1997, Hasegaswa presented herself as a narrator of a television program produced by NHK ?BS entitled “The Sound of the Woods and Lake; Exploring Finland and its Music”, which was received by the viewers with much interest. In 2000, Hasegawa performed with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra led by Sakari Oramo, and was also invited to perform in Finland’s “Naantali Music Festival”. In 2001, she participated in the “Divonne Music Festival in a trio with Pascal Roge. She also released a CD “Pictures at an Exhibition” in collaboration with the Finnish accordion virtuoso Mika Vayrynen, which was listed in the Japanese magazine “Record Geijutsu” (“Art of Records”) as a “Highly Recommended Disc”. From April, she took on the role of host along side Toru Watanabe in the program “Oshaberi Classic” (“Chatting about Classical Music”) on NHK-FM. Her warm personality won her the hearts of many viewers. In January 2003, she performed the Dvorak cello concerto together with the Prague Symphony Orchestra with Zdenek Macal as conductor. Her performance received high acclaim for its outstanding technique and abundant musicality. Hasegawa has been invited to Prague to perform with the orchestra in November 2004. Hasegawa has released a total of 14 CDs from Victor Entertainment. Following her debut album, she has released the following CDs. “Dvorak: Cello Concerto” , a recording made in London with The Philharmonia Orchestra |
conducted by C. Seaman; “Arie sul G”; “Rachmaninov
& Schostakovich: Cello Sonatas”; “Kodaly & Prokofiev: Sonatas for Cello Solo”,
which was awarded the 1995 Agency of Cultural Affair’s Artistic Recording Prize and the
Japan Professional Music Recording Prize; “ Sapatcado? The Rose of Spain”, an album recorded in Paris; “Brahms: Cello Sonatas”, an album recorded in Germany; “Natural”, a selection of the lighter pieces; “ Voices ? The Stark Band” , in which she participated as a member of a unit; “Requiebros”, a selection of her best recordings, “Solo”, her second series of unaccompanied solo pieces; “Norwegian Wood”, her first album of popular songs; and “J.S. Bach: The Cello Suites”, selected as a “Highly Recommended Disc” in “Record Geijutsu”. Her latest CD is "Wave - An Hommage towards Jobin", in which she challenges the Bossanova together with Shinichi Fukuda. Hasegawa is the recipient of many music awards, such as the Judges’ Encouragement Award of the Third Arion Prize (1985), the Muramatsu Prize (1988), the Kirishima International Music Festival Award, the Mobile Music Award Encouragement Prize (1991), and the Shin-nittetsu (New Japan Steel) Fresh Artist Award (1991). Curriculum Vitae as of October, 2005
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