Noco Kawamura

Violinist/Japan

Noco was born in Morioka, Japan.  She started playing violin at the age of four, and received a Winner’s Medal at the Children’s Competition of Japan at age ten.  Noco studied at the famous Toho Gakuen School of Music from 1998 to 2001 with Professor Kyoko Suzuki and continued at Toho Gakuen University in Tokyo where she received her Bachelor’s degree in 2005.  She was selected as a soloist for the Graduation Concert, named Yomiuri New Young Artist in Tokyo, and awarded the Meiji Yasuda Quality of Life Scholarship.  During her studies at the Toho, she had numerous chamber music classes with the Tokyo Quartet.  After graduation, Noco worked as a first violin player in the New Japan Phiharmonic Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmony Orchestra, performing in concerts under eminent conductors such as Lorin Maazel and Myung-whun Chung.  In 2007, she toured as a soloist with orchestras across Japan.  While participating in the Mozarteum Summerakademie in Salzburg, she met Professor Eduard Schmieder and moved to the USA to study with him at the SMU Meadows School of Arts in Dallas in the Artist Certificate Program, and later followed him to Temple University in Philadelphia where she received her Master’s degree.  As a soloist and chamber musician, Nobuko has performed in Switzerland, France, Germany, and Japan, in music festivals in France, Japan, Switzerland, Baden-Baden in Germany, and at the Lake George Music Festival in USA.  She was invited to join iPalpiti in 2008 and has been playing in its Los Angeles festivals and East coast tours.  As a member of iPalpiti, she has performed in prestigious concert halls, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall in New York.  She formed the piano “Primavera Trio” in 2011, which has been touring throughout Japan, with broadcasts and to great attention from the media.  The trio released its debut CD album, “Chapel Concert,” in 2014 and, in May 2015, was invited to perform in the largest music festival in Japan, “La Folle Journee au Japon – Area Concert.”  Noco actively performs in solo recitals and ensembles in Japan and USA, including the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.