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Shunské SATO |
Across Europe, North America,
and Asia, Shunské Sato has already earned recognition for his exceptional
artistry and virtuosity from audiences, orchestras, and music critics.
With a colorful, wide-ranging pallet of expression, a rich, noble tone,
brilliant technique, and insightful freshness of approach, he has established
himself as one of the most outstanding young violinists among the young
generation.
Since making his debut as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the
age of ten, Sato has since frequently appeared with major orchestras across
the globe. In Europe, these orchestras have included among others the
Berlin Deutsche Oper, the Bavarian Radio, Frankfurt Radio, Hannover Radio
Philharmonic, Hamburg, Copenhagen Symphony, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris,
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Montpellier,
Orkest van het Oosten (Holland), Beethoven Academy (Belgium), Monte Carlo
Philharmonic (Monaco), Gulbenkian Orchestra (Portugal), Novosibirsk Symphony,
Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, and St. Petersburg Symphony; in the United
States, with the National Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony,
Seattle Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and Syracuse Symphony, among
numerous others.
Collaborations with many distinguished conductors have enriched Sato's
musical experience, among whom are Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Gary Bertini, Myung-Whun
Chung, Sergiu Comissiona, Alexander Dmitrijew, Philippe Entremont, Thierry
Fischer, Lawrence Foster, Valery Gerghiev, Alan Gilbert, Christopher Hogwood,
Hiroyuki Iwai, Zdenek Macal, Ingo Metzmacher, Eiji Oue, Muhai Tang, Yuri
Temirkanov, Yan Pascal Tortelier, and David Zinman.
As a recitalist, he has been welcomed on the stages of the Auditorium
du Louvre in Paris, Gstaad (Switzerland), Ingolstadt, Friedrichshafen
(Germany), and Mallorca (Spain). In the United States, he has appeared
at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, 92nd Street Y and Carnegie Weill
Hall in New York City, Aspen Music Festival, Gardner Museum in Boston,
Seattle Chamber Music Society, Grand Teton Music Festival, and La Jolla
Chamber Music Society.
A highly successful debut recital-tour in Japan in 1995 launched and expanded
Sato's activities in Asia, enabling him to perform with renowned Asian
orchestras such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic,
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and Singapore Symphony, while appearing in
recitals at Kioi Hall, Suntory Hall, and Tokyo Opera City, to name a few.
Sato's debut recording (released January 2005) of Eugène Ysaÿe's
six sonatas for solo violin under Nami Records earned an uncommon unity
of laudations from the Japanese press, including major newspapers as Asahi,
Yomiuri, Mainichi, and from numerous music magazines. Most recently in
March 2005, Sato was the recipient of the prestigious Idemitsu Music Award,
a prestige for young musicians in Japan.
Shunské Sato's repertoire ranges widely from baroque to contemporary,
in both the major works with orchestra and solo recital works. In the
recent years, he has performed works of the twentieth century by Erich
Korngold, Miklos Rózsa, William Walton, Kaja Saariaho, and Peteris
Vasks, to much critical acclaim in Europe and in the US. In Japan, Sato
will premiere a work by Akira Nishimura in November 2005 at the event
by Japan Society for Contemporary Music.
Scholarships granted include the National Federation of Music Clubs, the
Starling Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the Japanese-American Association
of New York City, and Lillian-Gordon Hardy Endowment, a Salon De Virtuosi/Sony
Fellowship Grant, as well as the Ezoe Foundation. He was also awarded
as "The Youth of the Year 2000" by Comcast Cablevision (Cingular
Inc.).
Born in Tokyo in 1984, Sato began the violin at the age of two at the
Suzuki Talent Institute and became the youngest ever undertaken by the
Young Concert Artists (YCA) Management in New York City at the age of
twelve. His studies have included those at the Juilliard Pre-college under
the renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki, at the Curtis
Institute under Jaime Laredo, and Chin Kim. He is currently under the
tutelage of Gérard Poulet at the Ecole Normale de Paris.
Sato plays the "Booth" Stradivarius of 1716 by the gracious
loan of the Nippon Music Foundation.
February 2006
website: www.shunsukesato.com