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