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"Music: Breath of the statues. Perhaps: Silence of images. Your language where languages end" - Rainer Maria Rilke

Sayako Kusaka

Born in Hyogo in 1979. Studied in Tokyo with Takashi Shimizu, then in the USA with Eduard Schmieder, and in Freiburg with Rainer Kussmaul. Numerous competition awards include first prize at the International Rodolfo Lipizer Violin Competition in Italy, the silver medal and the special prize for the best performance of a Caprice by Paganini at the Paganini Competition, 3rd prize at the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Finland and the top prize at the Michelangelo Abbado International Violin Competition. Exten- sive concert activities as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra leader in Europe, Japan and the USA, plus radio and CD productions. Since 2008, Sayako Kusaka has been first concertmaster of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. She plays a Giovanni Francesco Pressenda violin from 1822. In 2009, she was awarded the prestigious Idemitsu Music Prize.