Takako Nishizaki

Born in Nagoya, Japan, on April 14, 1944, violinist Takako Nishizaki was the first student to follow the Suzuki method until the age of nine, thanks to her father Shinji Nishizaki, a collaborator of the pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki, who initiated this technical and philosophical training to become an accomplished musician. After preliminary musical studies in Japan, the young pupil of Brodus Erle moved to the United States in 1962, attending Yale University and then the Juilliard School in New York, where her teacher was Josph Fuchs. After taking part in the 1964 Leventritt Competition, won that year by Itzhak Perlman, the violinist won second prize in 1967, behind Pinchas Zukerman. After graduating from the Juilliard School with a first prize in concerto, Takako Nishizaki moved to Hong Kong, China, and embarked on a solo career when she met and married Naxos label founder Klaus Heymann, following recordings for the Asian labels HK (Hong Kong) and Camerata (Japan). First for the Marco Polo label, then for Naxos from 1983, she produced numerous programs of Chinese classical music, as well as the entire current violin repertoire, including works by Fritz Kreisler, Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Franck and Grieg, with pianists Wolf Harden and Jeno Jando, conductors Kenneth Jean and Stephen Gunzenhauser and Slovak ensembles such as the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and the Capella Istropolitana. His interpretations of Chen Gang and He Zhan Hao's Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, as well as the recitals Romantic Violin Favourites (1988), Violin Miniatures (1989), Popular Chinese Folk Melodies (1994) and Russian Romance (1995) are best-sellers. Her version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons concertos has sold over a million copies. A violin teacher in Hong Kong, Takako Nishizaki was awarded the bronze Bauhinia Star medal in 2003 for her contribution to music and her charitable work.