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| Junko Ohtsu, Violinist “Superior performance”, “Rhapsodic and delicate coloration” – as The New York Times critic praised, violinist, Junko Ohtsu has captivated listeners around the world with deep insight and intensity of her music making. Currently, she is quite active as a producer and a director of chamber music concert series in her native country, Japan, such as “Junko’s Heart-to-Heart Concert” and an educational program: “Junko’s music mini Caravan” , to deliver joy of music to young children and adult. In 2011, she produced and released DVD “Ai no Kaze: Wind from Northeast”, arrangements of Japanese traditional folk tunes from northeastern part of Japan. Her new and fresh approach for Japanese traditional music has received sensational applause. The DVD’s proceeds are to be all contributed to aid victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake happened in March, 2011. After making her critically acclaimed New York debut at the invitation of Jeunesses Musicales International and the Carnegie Hall Corporation, Ms. Ohtsu has been featured as a soloist with the St. Louis Symphony, the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, the Simon Bolivar National Orchestra of Venezuela and others, and in solo recitals throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. As an artist selected by the Japan Foundation, she has toured Central Latin America, Russia, the Czech Republic, the Philippines, Vietnam and Australia under the auspices of the Japanese Government to promote cultural exchange. Most recently, she has performed at the Marchesi Ginori Lisci’s palace in Florence, Italy. She was a recipient of two consecutive John D. Rockefeller 3rd grants and awarded a special grant by the Flagler-Matthews Foundation for being the outstanding young artist of the year. She has been invited to produce and perform chamber music concerts for Norton Museum of Art in conjunction with their special exhibitions, in West Palm Beach, FL. Her numerous media appearances include “The Artistry of Junko Ohtsu” on National Public Television, which was broadcast over 30 cities in the United States, and on Asahi Television’s “CNN Daywatch” program in Tokyo. Her highly acclaimed compact disc “Belle Epoque”, under Japan’s Fontec label, was followed by four more albums. Her ensemble, Ecco Trio (piano trio)’s CD “America” was selected by music critics of a leading Japanese publication as one of the most recommended recordings in 1998. In recent years, she has enjoyed a new dimension in her career as a writer and a lecturer in Japan.
She is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. |