Naoko Shimizu,

Principal Viola

Born in Osaka

Member since 2001-02-01

Awards:

Winner of the Geneva International Competition (1996), first prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich (1997), winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions in New York (1998)

Naoko Shimizu played the violin before she decided to switch to the viola in 1992, studying with Nobuo Okada at the Toho Gauken College of Music. She came to Germany in 1994 to continue her studies with Nobuko Imai at the Detmold Musikakademie. That summer she was invited to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Festival, and beginning the following summer she repeatedly appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival and also took part in the »Musicians from Marlboro« tour. In addition to her orchestral activities, she also gives recitals in Italy, Japan and the USA and appears as a soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Budapest Strings and other orchestras in Europe and Japan.