Biography
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Naori Takahashi was born in Japan, in 1997. She is currently studying for her postgraduate degree in violin performance under Professor György Pauk at the Royal Academy of Music as a recipient of the Leverhulme Trust Scholarship.
This 2019-2020 season, she is a Foyle Future First violinist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed with many major conductors in orchestras including working under Marin Alsop as co-leader and Semyon Bychkov as principal second violin. She was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain 2014 and 2015.
Naori is the recipient of both the Gold Prize and the British Music Society Award at the 2nd New Talent British International Youth Music Competition 2019 and the 2nd prize winner of the Winifred Small Violin Prize 19/20. Along with duo partner Michelle Chow, she is the winner of the Wilfrid Parry Prize and the Harold Craxton Prize 19/20 with their piano quartet. They regularly perform at national prestigious venues, including St. Mary’s Perivale, Regent Hall, Fairfield Halls and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Engagements for the duo this season include Beethoven’s 10th Violin Sonata for the Beethoven 10 out of 10 series, marking the 250th anniversary of his birth, and appearances at St Barnabas, Ealing, Notting Hill Concerts and other venues. In 2018, she was invited to perform at the Embassy of Japan in the U.K. as part of the Green Park Youth Concert Series.
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Along with national recitals in the U.K., she often travels abroad for festivals and performances, being invited to participate in Encuentro de Santander Summer Music Festival last summer, where she has had lessons with Zakhar Bron and Mihaela Martin and collaborating in concerts alongside them. She also represented the students of conservatoires of the U.K., performing at ‘Europa Season’, in Romania.
Naori has recently been selected to participate in masterclasses with renowned musicians including Lihay Bendayan at Florian Leonhard Fine Violins, by invitation by Norma Fischer; Henning Kraggerud, Simon James and Tasmin Little at the Academy.