Machiko Shimada
Biographie Machiko Shimada
Machiko Shimada
Born in Nagoya, she began playing the violin at the age of three. After attending the Tokyo University of the Arts High School of Music, she graduated at the top of her class from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1998, receiving the Ataka Prize. In 2002, she graduated with top honors from the Detmold University of Music, and in 2005, she obtained the German National Performer's Qualification from the same university's graduate school. She lived in Germany for six years, honing her skills throughout Europe. Her competition history includes first prize in the junior high school division of the 44th All Japan Student Music Competition National Finals, first prize in the 7th Japan Mozart Music Competition, second prize in the 66th Japan Music Competition, a special prize at the 45th Paganini International Violin Competition, first prize in the Detmold University of Music DAAD Prize Competition, and fifth prize in the 15th J.S. Bach International Competition. She has received scholarships for overseas study from the Rohm Music Foundation and the Meiji Yasuda Quality of Life Cultural Foundation. While still a student at Tokyo University of the Arts, she participated in the Aspen Music Festival in the United States, the Miyazaki Music Festival, and the Kurashiki Music Festival. Since 1998, she has participated in the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival every year, and for 25 years, she has been a member of the Saito Kinen Orchestra under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, participating in numerous performances and continuing to perform in chamber music concerts every year. Overseas, she has appeared in chamber music concert series at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Konzerthaus Berlin. She has given recitals in Dortmund and Brussels, and toured Chile in South America with the Detmold Piano Quartet. In 2000, she held her first recitals at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and the Nagoya Shirakawa Hall. To date, as a soloist, she has performed with various orchestras such as the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, and Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra, and in chamber music, she has collaborated with Nobuko Imai, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Menahem Pressler, and others. In 2005, she returned to Japan from studying in Germany, and in recognition of her activities in her hometown of Aichi Prefecture, she received the Aichi Prefecture Arts and Culture Award in 2006, and the first Nagoya Music Pen Club Award in the same year. In 2009, she received the Nagoya City Arts Encouragement Award. In 2015, she released a CD of Bach's unaccompanied sonatas and partitas on the Altus label, and in 2016, her recital of all six of Bach's unaccompanied works was well-received. In 2017, she released her second CD, "Vivaldi's Four Seasons & Zigeunerweisen." In 2020, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her recital debut, she held a duo recital tour with pianist Etsuko Hirose throughout Japan, and they have continued to collaborate since then. She is a member of the Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka, performs recitals at The Phoenix Hall Osaka, and produces the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra's chamber music series, among other activities. She also runs the Awaji Island Violin Master Class and is actively involved in music education. Currently, she is the solo concertmaster of the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Mito Chamber Orchestra. Part-time lecturer at Kyoto Municipal Horikawa Music High School and Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, and will be a specially appointed professor at NAGOYA COLLEGE OF MUSIC from April 2024.
