Akiko Suwanai
After becoming the youngest-ever violin winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990, Akiko Suwanai has lived up to her early promise with an impressive international career. She champions contemporary music to an unusual degree and has several Japanese and world concerto premieres to her credit.
Suwanai was born on February 7, 1972, in Tokyo. After receiving a high school degree and a soloist's diploma in Japan, she attended the Juilliard School in New York with support from Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. Studying with Dorothy DeLay and Cho Liang-Lin and simultaneously completing a degree in the history of political thought at Columbia University, she went on for further study at the Berlin University of the Arts. After winning second prizes at the Paganini Competition and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium in 1989, Suwanai went on to win first prize in violin at Moscow's International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990; she was the youngest ever to win the contest. She also took home the Bach Best Performer Award and the Tchaikovsky Best Performer Award. Suwanai began to find major bookings in both Japan and the West. Some of the most important were with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, and the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg.
To an unusual degree for a Japanese player, Suwanai has emphasized contemporary music in her career. She gave the Japanese premiere of the Krzysztof Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 ("Metamorphosen") at Tokyo's Suntory Hall in 1999, with Penderecki conducting, and followed that in 2007 with the world premiere of the Violin Concerto of Peter Eötvös. Suwanai has played and recorded traditional repertory with equal enthusiasm, and her 2006 recording of Bach's violin concertos topped the iTunes classical sales chart. Suwanai has recorded mostly for the Teldec, Decca, and Philips labels, but in 2020, she was heard on RCA Red Seal on a recording of Takemitsu works, with the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi. Suwanai plays the so-called "Dolphin" Stradivarius violin of 1714, an instrument once used by Jascha Heifetz.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
20 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
Classical - Released by Universal Music LLC on Jan 19, 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius & Walton Violin Concertos
Akiko Suwanai, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2003
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Poème
Akiko Suwanai, Philharmonia Orchestra, Charles Dutoit
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Apr 6, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorák: Violin Concerto / Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy
Akiko Suwanai, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Concertos - Released by Philips on Oct 9, 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Violin Concertos 1 & 2
Akiko Suwanai, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Toru Takemitsu: Orchestral Works
Paavo Järvi, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Akiko Suwanai
Classical - Released by Sony Music Labels Inc. on Feb 5, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Souvenir
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck & R.Strauss: Violin Sonatas, Takemitsu: Hika
Classical - Released by Universal Music LLC on Apr 6, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1; Scottish Fantasia
Akiko Suwanai, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms/Dvorák/Janácek: Hungarian Dances/4 Romantic Pieces/Violin Sonata etc.
Akiko Suwanai, Boris Berezovsky
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jul 2, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius & Walton Violin Concertos
Akiko Suwanai, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Partita for Violin Solo No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: 1. Preludio
Classical - Released by Universal Music LLC on Jan 7, 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn / Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos
Akiko Suwanai, Czech Philharmonic, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos.7 & 9 (Bonus Track Version)
Akiko Suwanai, Nicholas Angelich
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
Classical - Released by Universal Music LLC on Jan 19, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Toru Takemitsu: Orchestral Works
Paavo Järvi, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Akiko Suwanai
Classical - Released by Sony Music Labels Inc. on Feb 5, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn, Bruch: Violinkonzerte (CC)
Akiko Suwanai, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, Op. 35
Concertos - Released by Teldec on Jan 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck & R.Strauss: Violin Sonatas, Takemitsu: Hika
Classical - Released by Universal Music LLC on Apr 6, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Partita for Violin Solo No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: 1. Preludio
Classical - Released by Universal Music LLC on Jan 7, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo