PROFILE

Ryotaro Ito (violin)

Completed the Toho Gakuen School of Music Soloist Diploma Course.
Won first place in the violin category at the 58th Music Competition of Japan, as well as the Kuroyanagi Prize and Leucadia Prize. Won first place at the 1st Stradivarius Competition.
He received a scholarship to attend the Aspen International Music Festival.
In 1995, he studied abroad in London and gave recitals in London, Amsterdam, and other cities. He performed in Dalian,China as a soloist in the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Concert. In 2002, he gave a recital at Suntory Hall, which was highly praised both in Japan and overseas. In 1997, he formed the string quartet ARCO, and was active in the field of chamber music as the first violinist. In 2000, he released "Andante Cantabile."
He studied violin under the late Toshiya Eto, Masafumi Hori, Kazuki Sawa, Bella Katona, and Georges Pauk, and chamber music under the Tokyo Quartet, Nobuko Yamazaki, Koichiro Harada, and Ken Takaseki.

He has previously performed as a soloist with the
NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.
He is now releasing  a collection of Beethoven's violin sonatas with pianist Kazune Shimizu through Octavia Records.

As a coach, he has produced top finishers in various competitions and
professional orchestra auditioners. In addition, he often served as a
judge for The Music Competition of Japan and was invited to be a judge for
OneSong International Music Competition held in Taiwan in February 2025.
 
He served as concertmaster of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra from 2005 to March 2015, and as concertmaster of the NHK Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to March 2024.

He currently performs a wide range of music activities including solo, chamber music, and as a guest concertmaster.
He teaches the next generation of musicians as specially appointed professor at Showa University of Music, head professor at the Strings Academy attached to Showa University of Music, and part-time lecturer at Toho Gakuen School of Music.