Violin star Akiko Suwanai will perform for the first time in Lithuania. October 20 a violin virtuoso from Japan will perform a symphonic music concert at the National Philharmonic. Akiko Suwanai became famous when she won the famous Tchaikovsky Competition (1990) at the age of just 18 and immediately gained worldwide recognition as the youngest ever winner of the competition! At the same time, she became the winner of two other prestigious competitions - the Paganini Competition in Italy and the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium. Since then, her musical career has skyrocketed and she has established herself as one of the most sought-after violinists of her generation in the world. After one of Akiko Suwanai's concerts, The Washington Post wrote that "her rich, focused, penetrating sound carved the soundscape like a race car, free-diving through (and sometimes breaking) traffic." In Vilnius, Akiko Suwanai will perform at the concert of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, which should be conducted by the new trampoline star from France - Victorien Vanoosten (already appreciated by the Lithuanian audience: the conductor's performance in Vilnius this June caused applause from the audience).
For more than thirty years, Akiko Suwanai has been widely recognized as a virtuoso of the classical violin repertoire. A strong start, becoming the laureate of the most prestigious international competitions, gave good momentum to the violinist's further career: she is welcomed in the most famous concert halls of Europe, America, and Asia. Undoubtedly, the special beauty of Akiko's playing is given by the instrument - she plays Guarneri del Gesu violin "Charles Reade", which was kindly given to the performers by the Japanese-American collector, philanthropist Dr. Ryuji Ueno.
Akiko Suwanai's discography is decorated with all the most important violin concertos (M. Bruch, F. Mendelssohn, J. Brahms, J. Sibelius, etc.). However, the violinist is also interested in rarely performed works and is happy to premiere new works. For example, her recent recordings include a recent Sony recording of Toru Takemitsu's works with the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi, alongside an album of all Johann Sebastian Bach sonatas and partitas (released by Universal Japan). The violinist has prepared the Asian premieres of such bright works of contemporary music as violin concertos by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Krzysztof Penderecki and James MacMillan.
Akiko Suwanai performs concerts with the world's best orchestras and conductors, her chamber program stage partners include the most outstanding pianists and virtuosos of other instruments. Akiko regularly performs with the famous Martha Argerich - she participated in the birthday celebrations of the famous pianist in 2021. in the summer and this season is playing at the Stresa festival in Italy. The violinist also holds recitals with other famous pianists - Istvan Vardai, Ilya Rashkovsky, Yevgenij Božanov, etc. As a soloist, Akiko performs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lionel Bringuier, the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lahav Shani, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi, the Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden, etc.
Among the important premieres of new works prepared by Akiko Suwanai is the premiere of "Seven" by Peter Eötvös in 2007. At the Lucerne Festival under the direction of Pierre Boulez and a year later - the performance of this piece at the BBC Proms under the direction of Susanna Mälkki. in 2012 Akiko founded the NIPPON International Music Festival in Tokyo and is its artistic director. The festival regularly commissions new works by Japanese and foreign composers, so world premieres performed by the world's best classical artists are played here every year at the initiative of the violinist.
Violin star Akiko Suwanai's performance in Vilnius - October 20. At the National Philharmonic, at a concert by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, organized by Vilnius Festivals.
