n June 2007, Japanese violinist MAYUKO KAMIO won the Gold Medal in the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. The award included a $40,000 cash prize and resulted in an invitation by Vladimir Spivakov to perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Russian National Orchestra. During the 2008-2009 season, she performs as soloist with the Amarillo Symphony and on tour in the U.S. with the National Philharmonic of Russia with Vladimir Spivakov conducting. Her recent orchestral engagements include the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich under Zubin Mehta, the Orchestre National d’Île de France under Jean Deroyer, the NHK Symphony under James Judd, the Tokyo Symphony under Naoto Otomo, and the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra under Okko Kamu. This season she also gives recitals in the U.S. with Vanguard Concerts in Dayton, Ohio; Falany Performing Arts Center in Waleska, Georgia; and the University of Georgia.

In 2004, Ms. Kamio won the first Monte Carlo Violin Masters Competition, a prize of €30,000. As part of this award, she made a concerto appearance at the Salle Gaveau in Paris with the Orchestra of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris conducted by Jean-Michel Durand, as well as in Monte Carlo with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monaco, conducted by Eliahu Inbal. That same year, she was awarded First Prize and the Gold Medal at the first International David Oistrakh Violin Competition in the Ukraine.

Ms. Kamio made her concerto debut in Tokyo at the age of ten under the baton of Charles Dutoit, in a concert broadcast on NHK television. Since then, she has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich with Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, and on tour with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Spivakov, the Prague Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the Oviedo Symphony Orchestra in Spain, and appeared in Japan as soloist with the Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, NHK, Osaka, Sapporo and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestras, and the Japan, Tokyo and Tokyo City Philharmonics. As a winner of the 1998 Menuhin International Violin Competition, the youngest artist ever to win the award, Ms. Kamio performed with the Orchestra National de Lille with Lord Menuhin conducting. Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series presented Ms. Kamio in recital in January 2005.

At the age of thirteen, Ms. Kamio won First Prize in the 2000 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2001, she was the youngest artist ever to be presented in the Young Concert Artists Series at the Kennedy Center. In May 2003, she made her New York concerto debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, and later that year made her New York recital debut at the 92nd Street Y. These performances prompted the New York Times to call Ms. Kamio an “exciting young musician” and “a radiant talent.” She also made a special “encore” recital appearance in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in March of 2008. Through YCA, Ms. Kamio has performed as soloist with orchestras across the U.S. including the Westchester Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle (NC), the Fairfax (VA) and Syracuse Symphonies, and the Pasadena and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestras. She currently holds YCA’s John French Violin Chair.

Ms. Kamio was born in Osaka, Japan in 1986, and began to play the violin at the age of four. Her early teachers were Chikako Satoya, Machie Oguri and Chihiro Kudo, and she worked with Koichiro Harada at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. Ms. Kamio studied in the U.S. with Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki at the Aspen Music Festival and the pre-college division of The Juilliard School. She currently attends the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich, where she works with Zakhar Bron. Ms. Kamio received a grant from the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts, and is a recipient of the prestigious Idemitsu Music Award. Her instrument is a 1727 Stradivarius, previously owned by violinist Joseph Joachim, on loan from Suntory Limited, Japan. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.