The young Japanese violinist SAYAKA SHOJI is much in demand with the world's leading orchestras and conductors. Future engagements include collaborations with such eminent conductors as Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, and Myung-Whun Chung.

Shoji's prodigious talents were noticed very early, when she gave her first performance of a Mozart violin concerto at the age of ten. Her first Tokyo recital took place in 1996 when she was only thirteen. Born in Tokyo in 1983, Shoji is already the winner of numerous competitions; she rose to international attention in 1999 when she became the first Japanese violinist to win first prize at the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy.

Since then, Shoji has emerged as an important young artist. She has appeared around the world with leading orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Sinfonica Nationale della R.A.I., the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Sayaka Shoji's concerts this season will include performances with the NHK Symphony with Charles Dutoit; the Israel Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta; the Sinfonica Nationale della RAI and the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo with Eliahu Inbal; the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with James DePreist; and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Temirkanov. She will also tour Japan with the Czech Philharmonic under Yakov Kreizberg and the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Semyon Bychkov.

Sayaka Shoji is also a keen recitalist and chamber musician. She has toured Italy and Japan frequently in this capacity and will give recital tours in both countries again in the coming season. She was also invited to appear in Gstaad in 2002 and at the 2001 Verbier Festival, where she performed with Sawallisch and took part in chamber music concerts with Vadim Repin, Steven Isserlis, and Mikhail Pletnev. She made her Paris debut in the Louvre recital series with pianist Itamar Golan.

Sayaka Shoji has made two recordings with Deutsche Grammophon. The first is a disc of Paganini, Chausson, and Waxman recorded with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. This was followed by a recital of Dvor?ák, Szymanowski, Brahms, and Ravel entitled Live at the Louvre with Golan.

Her teachers have included Uto Ughi and Riccardo Brengola (Italy's Accademia Musicale Chigiana), Shlomo Mintz (Israel), and Prof. Zakhar Bron (Cologne's Hochschule für Musik).