Sayaka Shoji
has become internationally recognised for her unique artistic versatility and detailed approach to her chosen repertoire. Her remarkable insight into musical languages comes from her mix of European and Japanese backgrounds. Born in Tokyo, Shoji moved to Siena, Italy when she was three. She studied at Accademia Musicale Chigiana and Cologne’s Musikhochschule and made her European debut with Lucerne Festival Strings and Rudolf Baumgartner at the Lucerne Festival and then at the Musikverein, Vienna at the age of fourteen.

Since winning first prize at the Paganini Competition in 1999, Sayaka Shoji has been supported by leading conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Semyon Bychkov, Mariss Jansons and Yuri Temirkanov to name a few. She has also worked with renowned orchestras including Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Los Angeles and New York philharmonics, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, The Mariinsky Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Recent highlights include five concerts for the opening of the 2022/23 season with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/​Shani, an Italian tour with Philharmonia Orchestra/​Matias-Rouvali, and a collaboration with dancer/​choreographer Saburo Teshigawara performing Bach and Bartok’s solo works at the Philharmonie de Paris. She also had a return to NHK Symphony Orchestra/​Noseda, Brussells Philharmonic/​Ono, and an extensive recital tour in Japan with Gianluca Cascioli.

In the upcoming season, Shoji will return to Israel for concerts with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/​Shani and they will collaborate again for the Japan tour. She will also make debut concerts with hr-Sinfonieorchester/Carydis, Hamburger Symphoniker/​Sloane, BBC Symphony Orchestra/​Wong and Orchestre de chambre de Genève/​Waldman. In autumn, she will tour Japan with Modigliani Quartet and Benjamin Grosvenor for a unique chamber recital program which includes a play written and directed by Oriza Hiraza.

Alongside her usual concert activities, Shoji has created an experimental visual-music project, ​‘Synesthesia’ in 2007, and exposed oil-paintings and video-art works. Her first video work (Shostakovich Prelude coll. with P.Frament) was chosen in a group exposition ​‘Au-delà de mes rêves’ in 2014 among the most renown artists such as Y.Kusama, S.Calle, R.Longo. Shoji has also collaborated with Tadao Ando, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Saburo Teshigawara in numerous occasions.

A prolific recording artist, Shoji has released eleven albums on Deutsche Grammophon including Prokofiev, Sibelius and Beethoven violin concertos with St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov, and previous recordings include a recital album with Menahem Presseler. In autumn 2022, she released a new album with longtime collaborator, Gianluca Casiocli which includes Mozart’s violin sonatas, following her previous album of complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin.

Shoji won the Mainichi Art Award in 2016, one of Japan’s most prestigious awards, presented to those who have had a significant influence on the arts. In 2012, she was named one of The 100 Most Influential People for Japan in future by Nikkei Business.

Sayaka Shoji plays a Stradivarius ​‘Recamier’ c.1729 kindly loaned to her by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.

Gianluca Cascioli
Cascioli’s career as pianist was launched with his victory at the 1994 Umberto Micheli International Piano Competition before a jury that included Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Maurizio Pollini, and Charles Rosen. He has since appeared in the major music centres of Europe, North America, and Japan and has performed with such prestigious ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Camerata Salzburg, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Chicago Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Mahler Jugendorchester, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the La Scala Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Wiener Symphoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker. Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Myung-Whun Chung, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Metha, Yuri Temirkanov e Mstislav Rostropovich, among others. Cascioli has performed chamber music with Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Maxim Vengerov, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Clemens Hagen, Sabine Meyer.

Cascioli records for Decca and Deutsche Grammophon. His most recent release includes Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas together with violinist Sayaka Shoji for Deutsche Grammophon, and Mozart’s Piano Sonatas (DGG 4810866).

Gianluca Cascioli studied composition at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi di Torino with Alessandro Ruo Rui and later with Alberto Colla. Cascioli’ s compositions have been performed in important venues such as the Musikhalle (Hamburg), Wigmore Hall (London), and Palau de la Musica (Barcellona). In 2009 Cascioli was awarded 2nd Prize at the 27th International I.C.O.M.S. Competition for Composers with his first Trio for violin, cello and piano. In 2010 Cascioli was awarded 1st Prize at the 28th International I.C.O.M.S. Competition for Composers with his Tre pezzi lirici per violino e pianoforte. In 2010 Cascioli’s Fantasy for piano and orchestra was awarded the Mozart-Prize from the Jury of the 16th International Competition “2 Agosto”, with Ennio Morricone president. In 2012 Cascioli’s orchestral work Trasfigurazione was awarded 1st Prize at the 1st Francesco Agnello Composition Competition. In 2013 Trasfigurazione was performed 13 times throughout Italy by different orchestras such as Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice conducted by Diego Matheuz, Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento conducted by Günther Pichler, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by Tito Ceccherini. In 2014, Cascioli’ s Trio for clarinet, cello and piano was awarded 1st prize at the XXVI Moncalieri European Composition Competition. In 2015 Cascioli wins the second edition of the Francesco Agnello Composition Competition (with Ennio Morricone, president of the jury) with his Second Piano Trio.