Mayumi Kanagawa (1994) is a Berlin based, Japanese-American violinist praised for her rich, dark sound and focused, engaging musicality. Prizewinner at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and 2018 Long-Thibaud Crespin competition in Paris, she is establishing herself as a soloist and chamber musician in Japan, Europe, and North America.
2022-23 season highlights include return engagements with NHK, Yomiuri, Tokyo Metropolitan and Sapporo Symphony Orchestras as well as debuts with the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, Pilsen Philharmonic, and Japan Century Orchestras. Various recital and chamber music projects will bring her to Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
Mayumi has performed with many orchestras including the Mariinsky Orchestra, Belgian National Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others. Her unique talent for communicating the love and joy of music making in varied repertoire and venues has also brought her to many outreach programs and schools around the world, from San Francisco to Novosibirsk.
As a pedagogue, she is currently teaching at the University of Arts in Bremen – Hochschule für Künste in Germany. Mayumi Kanagawa has worked as assistant to Prof. Kolja Blacher at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule Berlin, taught masterclasses in Columbia and Japan, as well as maintaining a small private studio.
Mayumi’s musical education has been shaped by Kolja Blacher, Yoshiko Nakura, Masao Kawasaki, and Robert Lipsett.
She currently performs on an Antonio Stradivarius violin from 1725, on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
