Debut: Risa Hokamura, Violin - March 23rd, 2023NEW

“Music has the power to express feelings we cannot put into words. I have an indescribable connection to this program, and a story to go along with each piece. I invite you to find your own unique story in this music.”
-Risa Hokamura

Event Date
March 23, 2023

Program
YSAŸE:Sonata No. 3 in D Minor “Ballade”
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80
Toshio Hosokawa: Elegy for solo violin
Chausson: Poème, Op. 25
Saint-Saens: Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28

Risa Hokamura Biography
“Her playing was both powerful and reflective, both sweet and steely.”

Risa Hokamura began studying the violin at the age of three, and by the age of ten captured top prizes in competitions in Japan. She first came to international attention upon winning First Prize in the 2018 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions at the age of seventeen, as well as the Tannery Pond Concerts Prize, The Ruth Laredo Memorial Prize, and The Ronald A. Asherson Prize, and the Silver Medal at the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, where she performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Hokamura has gone on to perform with many orchestras such as the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Muncie Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra.

This season, Risa will make her New York debut at Merkin Concert Hall and her Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. In addition to her recent debut at Music@Menlo this past summer, Risa will appear in chamber concerts at Clarion Concerts and the Morgan Library & Museum and in recital at Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, University of Florida Performing Arts (Gainesville, FL), Arts at Abingdon (Gloucester, VA), Arts Council of Moore County (Southern Pines, NC), and the Port Washington Library Series.

A native of Japan, Risa studied at the Artist Diploma program of the Tokyo College of Music as the Honorary Scholarship student under the tutelage of Koichiro Harada, Mayuko Kamio, and Machie Oguri. She continued her studies this year at the Manhattan School of Music as the Full Scholarship student under the tutelage of Koichiro Harada and Lucie Robert, and additional studies with Cho-Liang Lin. She is also a recipient of scholarships from the Ezoe Memorial Foundation and the Rohm Music Foundation. Risa Hokamura is represented in Japan by Kajimoto.

Risa plays the 1722 “Jupiter” Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.