Ryo Shimakata
Violin
Blood type ABAries
Age started playing the instrument
3 years old (piano), 5 years old (violin)
Born in Sapporo City, Hokkaido.
Graduated top of his class in the Violin Department of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. Completed Soloist Diploma Course at Toho Gakuen College as a scholarship student. Received multiple recognitions and awards while enrolled, including placing second in the High School Club Nationals in the 69th Student Music Concours of Japan and winning the Special Award from the Suntory Foundation for the Arts and the 39th Kirishima International Music Festival Prize.
Scholar of the Yamaha Music Foundation in 2021 and 2022.
Placed in 2023 ArsClassica International Competition held in Italy.
Has studied the violin under Masami Tomioka, Ikuo Sato, Hamao Fujiwara, Markus Wolf and Nora Chastain and the viola under Yasuhiro Suzuki. Has played together with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, the Toho Gakuen Chamber Orchestra and other orchestras as a soloist.
Enrolled in the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and the Orchestra Academy at the Munich Philharmonic while being based out of Munich, Germany for a five-year period from 2018.
Has belonged to the Master of Chamber Music of Mozarteum University in Austria as a violaist since 2023. Studied string quartet under the tutelage of both Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartett and Cibran Sierra Vazquez. Is currently the first violinist of the Bamberg Symphony based in the German state of Bayern.
Activities in Japan include serving as a core member of the Japan National Orchestra led by pianist Kyohei Sorita.