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Tokyo Music Competition

MITSUI Shizuka

MITSUI Shizuka

Cello
Born in: Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
2nd place, String Section, The 15th Tokyo Music Competition 2017

Musical Study Experiences

2010: Graduated from Toho Gakuen Music High School and entered Toho Gakuen College Music Department
2011-12: Completed study at the NHKSO Academy of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo
2013: Enrolled in the Soloist Diploma Course of Toho Gakuen College Music Department
2014: Entered the Mozarteum University Salzburg
Currently 3rd-year student at the Mozarteum University Salzburg

Teachers

Previously studied cello under Iwai Masato, Mori Hakuro, Giovanni Gnocchi, and Clemens Hagen

Musical Careers

2009 Gold Prize, High School Category, the Izuminomori Junior Cello Contest
2010 Top Prize, Strings Category, the Japan Classical Music Competition
2011 3rd Place, Cello Category, the 80th Music Competition of Japan
2011-12 Performed as a member of NHKSO Academy in the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo's subscription concert
2012 Performed Dvořák's Cello Concerto with the Polish Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra
2015 Won the Outstanding Performance Award from the Salzburg International Summer Academy Mozarteum and performed in the Salzburg Festspiele Award Winners Concert
Invited to the Alfredo Piatti International Festival and performed in a solo recital without accompaniment with program including Piatti's entire Caprices
2016 1st Place, Enrico Mainardi Competition, Austria
2017 Semi-finalist, Cello Category, the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium
2nd Place, String Section, 15th Tokyo Music Competition 2017

Further Activities

Within Japan, mainly in Tokyo, Fukuoka and Kanagawa, Mitsui has been performing in solo at recitals and charity concerts. After his study in abroad, the awards that he won at two seminars in Austria and Italy led him to hold 5 recitals in Europe. At the Lago di Garda performance he played Giovanni Sollima's "Violoncelles Vibrez!" as a soloist. Mitsui has been working on chamber music as well, through his participation in Project Q (educational project hosted by TV MAN UNION in Japan) as a member of Quartet Rose during 2010-2014, and the world premiere performance of Ishijima Masahiro's string quartet at Indiana University's JAPAN FESTIVAL. Previously he has also performed chamber music with Clemens Hagen, Goto Midori, Tsutsumi Tsuyoshi, Tokunaga Tsugio, Shinozaki Fuminori and other prominent musicians.

Repertoire

My strengths are Schubert, Schumann, Dvořák and other Romantic Era works that have lyrical melodies as well as Viennese Classic composers such as Haydn and Beethoven.

Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Schumann: Cello Concerto
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 & No. 2
Boccherini: Cello Concerto No.9 in B-flat major
Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102
Beethoven: Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major, Op. 56

Return to List of Winners