Ayaka Yoshikawa

Violinist Ayaka Yoshikawa began her studies at the age of three and went on to train at the Tokyo University of the Arts under Kazuki Sawa and Takako Yamasaki. After receiving her bachelor's degree in 2016, she continued her studies in Vienna, where she completed her master's degree at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK) in 2020 under Florian Zwiauer.

Her distinctions include a prize at the MUK Fidelio Competition, Second Prize at the 7th All Japan Art Competition, the Excellence Prize at the 1st International Design K Competition for Students, and recognition at the All Japan Student Music Competition in Tokyo. She has also participated in masterclasses with György Pauk, Gérard Poulet, Pierre Amoyal, Pavel Vernikov, and Zakhar Bron.

As a soloist, she has given recitals in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Vienna, and Nantua, France, including a two-volume Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonata Series. As second violinist of the Hamamelis Quartet, she has performed in Indiana as well as across Austria. Her orchestral experience spans engagements with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Volksoper Vienna, the Dresden Philharmonic, and, in Japan, the Sendai Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic, Pacific Philharmonia Tokyo, and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since March 2021 she has directed Academy Customize, a music education service she founded to make high-level instruction more accessible. She is currently based in Pittsburgh, where she performs and teaches the next generation of musicians.