Nobuko Imai

Nobuko Imai is one of the leading violists of our time. he has worked in chamber music projects with such distinguished artists as Martha Argerich, Kyung-Wha Chung, Heinz Holliger, Mischa Maisky, Murray Perahia, Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, András Schiff, Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman. She is a former member of the Vermeer Quartet and is the founder and a member of the Michaelangelo Quartet with Stephan Picard, Mihaela Martin and Frans Helmerson.
  As a soloist, Imai has appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
  Contemporary music features prominently in her repertoire, which contains all the major works for viola. Toru Takemitsu wrote the viola concerto A String around Autumn for her in 1989. She has also premiered works by George Benjamin, Duncan McTier, and David Horne.
  Imai currently teaches at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, Conservatoire Supérieur et Académie de Musique Tibor Varga in Sion and at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Genève. In 2000 she founded an institution called the East West Baroque Academy, where young music professionals from Japan and the Netherlands are able to gain experience in authentic early music style and performance practices.
Since 1988 Nobuko Imai has played an Andrea Guarneri of 1690.