Nobuko Imai

Nobuko Imai is considered one of the most outstanding violists of our time. After completing her studies at the Toho School of Music, Yale University, and the Juilliard School, she won top prizes at the prestigious international competitions in Munich and Geneva. She has performed with numerous prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, and the London and Chicago Symphony Orchestras.She also returns to Japan several times a year to perform as a soloist and to participate in the annual “Viola Space” project. In the 1995-1996 season, she was artistic director of the Hindemith Festivals held at Wigmore Hall in London, Columbia University in New York, and the Casals Hall in Tokyo.In 2009, she founded the Tokyo International Viola Competition, the first international competition in Japan dedicated exclusively to this instrument. She has an impressive discography of more than 40 recordings for BIS, Chandos, Hyperion, Philips, and Sony, among other labels.
As a chamber music enthusiast, she has played with prominent artists such as Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, and Martha Argerich. A former member of the celebrated Vermeer and Michelangelo Quartets – which she formed in 2003 – she combines a distinguished international solo career with various teaching commitments.
Between 1983 and 2003, she was a professor at the Detmold Academy of Music and currently teaches at the conservatories of Amsterdam and Geneva, the Kronberg International Academy, and the Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo. Since the 2015-2016 academic year, she has been Professor of the Fundación BBVA Viola Chair at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid.