SUMIRE HIROTSURU DEBUT!

Mendelssohn/Violin Concerto  + J.S.Bach/Chaconne

“Would you like to fill in for Joseph Lin at our upcoming concert?”

I received one email from Mr. Nishiwaki on a hot summer day in 2021. I had never expected that I would be performing on a stage that I was looking forward to seeing from the audience...

– My first encounter with Mr. Nishiwaki was in May 2021, at the lecture concert series that I organized with my publisher. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, I was not able to greet him in person - but he left a message, along with CDs and tickets of his orchestra. The ticket said: “Beethoven Concerto with Joseph Lin” – oh wait, I must go. He is one of my favorite chamber coaches from my Juilliard time. I told Mr. Nishiwaki that I would be in the audience.

In the middle of the hot summer, I was preparing for the online version of Summer in JAPAN, an English summer camp with Harvard students that I have been co-organizing since 2013. I, panicking with the amount of work and the time difference that I had to manage between different continents, happened to see a notification popped up on my screen. “Joseph Lin cannot come to Japan due to travel restrictions. Could you fill in for him?”

I, panicking even more, read the email carefully and realized this was a chance for me to not only free up my musician spirit that had been sinking due to the pandemic, but also to show my gratitude and respect for my chamber coach Joseph Lin and the Juilliard community that trained me to be a professional violinist. I said yes, with the condition that they change the piece from Beethoven Concerto to Mendelssohn Concerto (the performance was coming up within a month at that point and I did not have courage to tackle that “grandioso” piece in such a short period of time).

The amount of joy and experience I had gained from this concert was beyond explanation – the difficulty of conducting and performing at the same time, the freedom spirit that this orchestra (with visually unique arrangements) has, and the pure excitement to share music with a lot of people on stage gave me such a great insight on music making on such a deep level.

The pandemic has changed many people’s lives, including mine, but I have to say that I was fortunate to receive this opportunity because the concert reminded me of why I play the violin for life.                                                                                           December 16, 2021 Sumire Hirotsuru

SUMIRE HIROTSURU

Born in Oita, Japan, New York/Tokyo-based violinist Sumire Hirotsuru has multifaceted interests in music, education, and media. She has performed as a soloist at major venues in the U.S. and Japan including Carnegie Hall, John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Suntory Hall, and more. She is a founding member of Ansonia Quartet, which has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, Museum of Modern Arts in New York (MoMA), and Japanese Ambassador's Residence in Washington D.C. In 2019 she has participated in a tour with The Knights to Ravinia Festival and Tanglewood Festival with renowned violinist Gil Shaham, where they recorded an album that has been nominated to the Grammy Award 2022. As she enjoys different genres of music, she has collaborated with the Video Game Orchestra to record soundtracks including Final Fantasy series and Kingdom Hearts series, with Típica Messiez to perform Argentinian tango, and with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble for cultural collaborations.

Sumire is a co-founder of Summer in JAPAN, an annual education program for Japanese schoolchildren since 2013 in Oita, Japan. As a published author, Sumire often gives lectures and contributes articles in Japan based on her best-seller books on self-management; she has published three books, from KADOKAWA publishing and Diamond Inc. Her unique lecture concert series, combining a business seminar and a violin recital, has been featured on several TV shows. She is also a regular commentator of the Morning Show on TV Asahi.

She earned a B.A. from Harvard University with the David McCord Prize in 2016, and a M.M. from The Juilliard School in 2018 with the William Schuman Prize. She serves as the Guest Lecturer at Seikei University and Akita International University. More info at sumirehirotsuru.com