VIOLIN 2023
Raised in Tokyo, Aoi Saito started playing violin at the age of 5 at the Toho Gakuen Music School. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Tokyo University of the Arts with honors and is currently studying for her Master’s degree at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Aoi is a 1st prize winner of the Osaka International Music Competition, Kobe International Competition, and the Ibolyka-Gyarfas Foundation Violin Competition in Berlin. Additionally, she was a semifinalist at the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Finland in 2022.
As a soloist, she has performed with Geidai Philharmonia and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Aoi was invited to the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Switzerland and the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy in Japan.
Aoi is currently playing a precious 18th-century instrument made by the Italian violin maker Giovanni Battista Guadanini, on loan from the Berlin University of the Arts.
Principal teachers
- Latica Honda-Rosenberg, 2021-present
- Masafumi Hori, 2019-2020
- Natsumi Tamai, 2018-2020
- Asako Urushihara, 2013-2020
- Mami Teshigawara, 2009-2012
- Ami Watanabe, 2002-2009
Major Competitions
- Semi-finalist, International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, 2022
- 1st prize, Violinwettbewerb der Ibolyka-Gyarfas-Stiftung, 2021
- Semi-finalist, Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, 2019
- 1st prize, Kobe International Music Competition, 2018
- Semi-finalist, International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists, 2016
- 1st prize, Osaka International Music Competition, 2010
Programme
FIRST ROUND
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Violin Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001
I.Adagio
II. Fugue
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Waltz-Scherzo, Op. 34
HEINRICH WILHELM ERSNT Variations on “The Last Rose of Summer”
Pianist: Philip Chiu
Aoi Saito is generously sponsored by Laurent Verreault.
