© Den Haag Piano Quintet
Fortepiano : Kae Ogawa
She has studied fortepiano in Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in Japan and continued her Master studies at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague with Stanley Hoogland. She has also taken numerous masterclasses with Piet Kuijken, Boyan Vodenicharov, Zvi Meniker, Geoffrey Govier, Malcolm Bilson and Bart van Oort.
She has performed in several early music festivals such as Holland Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht (2008- 2009), Música Antiqva in Spain (2010), Festival de Saintes in France (2010), and Laus Polyphoniae in Antwerp (2010) with her ensemble “Den Haag Piano Quintet”. Besides, her ensemble “Den Haag Piano Quintet” was award as “IYAP (International Young Artists Presentation) Selected Promising Young Ensemble 2010” in Antwerp.
In 2011, “Den Haag Piano Quintet” was selected as the finalist of York International Early Music Competition in England.
In November 2011, “Den Haag Piano Quintet” won the 16th International Van Wassenaer Competition in the Netherlands.
Violin : Miki Takahashi
Miki Takahashi was born in Japan. She studied at Toho-Gakuen University of Music with Kohichiro Harada, the original first violinist of Tokyo String Quartet. In 1998, Miki moved to Toronto to study with Professor Lorand Fenyves, and she graduated from the Glenn Gould School Toronto with a Bachelor Degree, as well as obtaining an Advanced Certificate at the University of Toronto.
Since 2002 Miki has turned to the baroque violin, and studied with Kevin Mallon, a former violinist with Tafelmusik. After moving to Berlin in 2003, she completed a Performance Diploma and subsequently her ‘Konzertexamen’ in baroque violin at the University of Arts in Berlin under the instruction of Irmgard Huntgeburth, attaining the highest mark possible.
In March 2005, Miki has won the first prize as well as the special prize for ornamentation at the Third International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg, Germany. The following August, she has also won first prize and the audience prize at the International Music Competition Musica Antiqua in Bruges.
Miki was also accepted into the Academia Montis Regalis Baroque Orchestra Academy (2005) as a concertmistress and as a second violin principal, and has performed Vivaldi's concerto for two violins with Enrico Onofri.
She successfully gave her debut concert in Japan (2006) and in USA (2007).
In 2006 and 2007, Miki was invited to teach in Master classes of the Debrecen University (Hungary) and the St. Paul Conservatory of Music in Minessota USA. In 2008, she gave extensive master classes, lectures and concerts in Taipei National University of Arts as well as in Tainan National University of Arts in Taiwan.
Miki has made solo appearance with various ensembles including Musica Fiorita (Basel), Feinstein Ensemble (London), Leipziger Barockorchester, Il Gardelino (Belgium), and Collegium Musicum 90. Miki is the first violinist of the Den Haag Piano Quintet, which is “IYAP Selected Promising Ensemble 2010”. She has extensively worked with such distinguished artists as: Marcel Ponseele, Jan de Winne, Enrico Onofri, Lorenzio and Vittorio Ghielmi, Jean Lamon, Elisabeth Wallfisch, Andrew Manzi, Andrea Marcon. Alfredo Bernardini, Simon Standage, Amandini Bayer. Dann Laurin, and Richard Gwilt. She performs frequently in chamber ensembles, baroque orchestras, and gives solo recitals worldwide.
Viola : Adam Römer
He was born in Debrecen, Hungary. He comes from a family of musicians and started his musical studies at the age of 5. He studied at the Kodaly Special Music School Debrecen, Liszt Academy of Budapest, Glenn Gould School of Toronto and the University of Arts in Berlin. His main teachers were: Lorand Fenyves, Steven Dann Ulrich Knörzer and Irmgard Huntgeburth. He was introduced to historical performance practice by Jeanne Lamon (leader of Tafelmusic-Toronto), then later did master classes with Anner Bylsma, Barthold Kuijken, Susanne Scholz and Christoph Huntgeburth.
Adam has been member of Ensemble San Souci, and Capella Vitalis (Berlin), Telemann Consort (Magdeburg) Le Nation (Japan), Musica Fiorita (Switzerland), guest lead the viola section of Concerto Brandenburg Classical Orchestra, as well as worked under great musicians and conductors such as: Roger Norrington, Simon Rattle, Giovanni Antonini and Matthew Halls.
Adams wide range of interest in music takes him through Europe-Asia and North America, with different chamber music, early music, and hungarian folk music ensembles, like: Dohnanyi String Trio Berlin, Arctimus quartet (Norway), Ishum quartet (Germany), Via Salzburg (Canada), Morotva Hungarian Folk (Hungary), and Den Haag Piano Quintet (The Netherlands). Adam is also an experienced performer of new music, he participated in Andrea Molinos multimedia project "the Fainted Voices" in Italy, toured with Giovanni Sollima and the Kaleidoskop ensemble-Berlin.
Mr. Romer is also a highly sought after orchestra musician. After being leader of the viola section of the Gewandhaus orchestra Leipzig, and Berlin Radio Orchestras, he is currently Viola Section Leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Viola : Sonoko Asabuki
She was born in Tokyo, studied the modern viola with Nobuo Okada, at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where she got Master’s Degree in 2006. Awarded Young Artists Prize when graduating. Received Master-Diplom in 2009 from Musikhochschule in Freiburg, where she had studied the modern viola with Prof. Wolfram Christ since 2007. She has been playing the baroque viola since 2005 and has been studying the baroque Violin with Prof.Chiara Banchini, Leila Schayegh, Amandine Beyer at Schola Canturm in Basel since 2009.
She has won the 1st prize and special prize at 10th japanese strings competition “Vega” in Hyogo and also 1st prize at 9th japanese competition for young artist in Tochigi.
She performed with various ensembles including “Il Profondo”,”Ensemble 415”,”Barock Orchester Capriccio Basel” and orchesters by Seiji Ozawa, Trevor Pinnock, Gottfried von der Goltz and Lucy van Dael.
Cello : Toru Yamamoto
He studied the modern cello with Takashi Dohi, Fumiaki Kouno, and Hideki Kitamoto. After his undergraduate studies, he entered Hidemi Suzuki's class to pursue his postgraduate studies in the baroque cello at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, where he also benefited from the teaching of other professors at the school, namely Masaaki Suzuki, Natsumi Wakamatsu, Michio Kobayashi.
He was awarded 2nd prize at the Yamanashi Early Music Competition in 2006, 2nd prize at 16th International Bach-Leipzig Competition in 2008 and Honorable Mention at International competition Musica Antiqua Brugge in 2011.
Active not only as a baroque cellist, but as a modern cellist, he plays regularly with Bach Collegium Japan, Orchestra Libera Classica, Tokyo Bach Mozart Orchestra, Les Boreades, Ensemble Genesis, and Den Haag Piano Quintet. He plays with Yamagata Symphony Orchestra several times as a guest principal.
Now He studies romantic repartoire (in 19th century) mainly, with Roel Dieltiens at Zuericher Hochschule der Kunste from 2010 with scholarship from Japanese agency for cultural affairs and Rohm music foundation Japan, and uses gut strings on his cello which is made by Filip Kuijken in 2005.
Contrabass : Tomoki Sumiya
He studied double bass at Tokyo University of Arts in Japan, and studied violone with Maggie Urquhart at Royal Conservatory in the Hague in the Netherlands. He has a particular interest in Viennese solo bass works of the 18th century which has led him to further research the Viennese bass. And his article about it was printed in “The Viol” magazine in spring 2010. He has performed in many ensembles or orchestras including New Dutch Academy, Florilegium Musicum, Concerto d’Amsterdam, The Northan Consort, Concerto Barroco, Arte dei Suonatori, Van Swieten Society, English Baroque Soloists, La Nuova Musica, Holland Baroque Society and Nederlandse Bach Vereniging Recently, he performes in the orchestras such as La petite bande by Sigiswald Kuijken, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique by John Eliot Gardiner,
and Sinfonia Rotterdam by Conrad van Alphen. He is also a founding member of Den Haag Piano Quintet, and it is selected as the finalist of early music competition 2011 July in York(UK).
