ABOUT

Born in 1993, Japanese violinist Manaka Matsumoto is an active recitalist, having performed in concert halls, city halls and community centers, and has been giving recitals annually at the Hankyu Cultural Foundation’s Magnolia Hall in Osaka, Japan since 2016. As a soloist, she has performed with Italian chamber ensemble “I Solisti Aquilani”, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, and the American Baroque Orchestra. Her experiences as concertmaster include New England Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, New Haven Chamber Orchestra and the American Baroque Orchestra.

 

Manaka also regularly writes and performs her own music. In her recitals, she has premiered original works including Phantasy after “Salome” for violin and piano (2017), Haiku for solo violin (2019) and Dance Suite for Solo Violin “Terpsichore” (2018), which she also performed in June 2018 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Her 2016 piece Perspective – Duet for Violin and Viola was one of the 9 pieces selected for the Boston Microtonal Society’s 3rd Annual Call for Scores, and was premiered at the 2017 Boston Microtonal Society’s concert Modèles – Microtonal Music for Violin and Viola by violinist Gabriela Diaz and violist Wendy Richman. Her first piece for string orchestra, When the Hazelnuts Ripen, was premiered in February 2020 by the American Baroque Orchestra.

 

Manaka recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance at Stony Brook University, where she studied with Arnaud Sussmann, Philip Setzer, Jennifer Frautschi and Hagai Shaham. She received her Bachelor of Music at New England Conservatory, where she studied with Paul Biss, and her Master of Music at Yale University, where she studied with Ani Kavafian.

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Manaka also enjoys reading, writing and drawing cartoons.