Maya Iwabuchi

Maya Iwabuchi is a highly regarded professional violinist, much in demand as a solo and session violinist and as a quartet and orchestral player. She has an international education. She started playing violin at home in Japan when she was two years old, then went to the United States and the United Kingdom for her higher education. Her teachers were Alice Schoenfield at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and Rodney Friend at the Royal College of Music. She has appeared in concertos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and others. She has been hailed as "simply brilliant" by England's prestigious classical strings magazine "The Strad." Iwabuchi moved to London in 1987 and has played at the Aldeburgh and Chichester Festivals. She holds the position of Leader (Concertmaster) of the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, one of the world's great symphony orchestras. She joined with other rising string players of her generation, most of them in leadership positions with London orchestras, to form a unique and flexible chamber music group, the Razumovsky Ensemble. The group is named after the Russian ambassador to Vienna during the Napoleonic era, who was a pupil of an great financial support of Ludwig van Beethoven. (Three of Beethoven's greatest string quartets are dedicated to and named after Count Razumovsky.) The Razumovsky Ensemble comprises six string players, who can play chamber music works for ensembles ranging from string trios to string quartets, including either kind of string quintet (i.e., with either two violas or two cellos). The other members are: Evgeny Grach of Moscow, principal second violinist of the London symphony Orchestra, former concertmaster of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the youngest concertmaster of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in its history, and also the leader of the Barcelona Quartet. Andrei Vivtovych, of Lvov, Ukraine, guest principal violist of the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and co-principal violist of the London Symphony Orchestra. Malcolm Johnston of Scotland, former faculty member of Louisiana State University in the U.S., member of the Amernet String Quartet, and co-principal violist of the London Symphony Orchestra. Oleg Kogan of Moscow, son of one of the great violinsts of the century, Leonid Kogan and founder of the Rubinstein Piano Trio. He became the youngest Associate Professor of the Moscow Conservatory. Michael Stirling, former principal cellist of the Ensemble Moderne of Frankfurt, Germany, cellist of the ensemble Fibonacci Sequence, and member of the Brindisi Quartet. Maya Iwabuchi gave an innovative concert in 1999 in conjunction with the well-known novelist Vikram Seth. This association led to a Decca compilation album featuring excepts from Seth's novel Equal Music, in which Iwabuchi appears on several tracks. Iwabuchi frequently appears at international music festivals, including Music Speedside of Canada, Music at Blair Atholl in Scotland, and the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall.
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