Takaaki Shibata
studied mandolin on the Instrumental Education course at the Kassel University of Music in Germany.

Takaaki Shibata has won numerous prizes at mandolin solo competitions in Japan and Germany. Since returning to Japan in 2006, he has given recitals throughout the country and has released the Japanese-market CDs *Those Who Know the Beautiful Rose* and *Chronicle: 300 Years of Mandolin Music* ‘Winter Elegy: A Collection of Contemporary Japanese Works for Mandolin and String Trio’ and ‘The World of Unaccompanied Mandolin’, whilst in Germany she released ‘sky blue flower’. Her repertoire is extensive; in the field of contemporary music, in addition to her activities as a member of Rosetta (music ensemble/art collective), she has premiered numerous new works.

As a soloist and lecturer, she has been invited to participate in international music festivals and symposia across Europe and the United States. In the mandolin specialist magazine *Sodeiru! Mandolin*, she has been actively contributing to both performance and research, including a series of articles on the history and playing techniques of the mandolin from its launch in 2008 until 2021. In the field of mandolin orchestras, he chairs the Mandolin Orchestra Guild and serves as technical adviser to the Uji Mandolin Ensemble Flora, Ensemble Canon, Kyoto University Mandolin Orchestra and Ryukoku University Mandolin Orchestra, as well as acting as an instructor for the Japan Super Youth Mandolin Orchestra.

Takaaki Shibata is the director of Kaerumu Children’s Mandolin Workshop. He is a director of the General Incorporated Association Corozetta. He is a part-time lecturer in the Guitar and Mandolin Department at Osaka College of Music. He serves as a judge for both the Japan Mandolin Solo Competition and the National High School Guitar and Mandolin Music Competition. He studied under Masanori Kinoshita, G. Weihofen and S. Treckel.