Himari Yoshimura Makes U.S. Concert Debut with Ida Kavafian and the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra
The young Curtis violin student recently performed J. S. Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in D minor with her esteemed teacher in New Mexico
Curtis congratulates 12-year-old violin student Himari Yoshimura, who made her U.S. concert debut alongside her renowned Curtis teacher, Ida Kavafian, performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor with the acclaimed Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra. Previously, Ms. Yoshimura had played one movement of the concerto’s three movements in concert with her mother, but this was the first time she had played the entire work. Following the Bach, she performed Henryk Wieniawski’s virtuosic Violin Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor.
“It’s one of the hardest things I play, noted Ms. Yoshimura in the Santa Fe New Mexican. “It’s a real tour de force for the violin,” she says, “as challenging as any of those by Paganini.”
Grand Prize winner of the 15th International Competition for Young Violinists, Ms. Yoshimura became the youngest champion in the event’s history. She has won first prizes in all forty-two local and international competitions, including the 2019 Arthur Grumiaux International Violin Competition, the 2019 Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition, the 20th International Television Contest for Young Musicians in 2019, and the 2018 Leonid Kogan International Violin Competition.
Read the article in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Himari Yoshimura, from Tokyo, Japan, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2022. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Yoshimura is a Curtis Institute of Music Fellow.
Photos of Ms. Yoshimura and Ms. Kavafian courtesy of Nichole MCH Photography. Candid photos of Ida Kavafian, Himari Yoshimura, and Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra music director Guillermo Figueroa courtesy of Kyoko Yoshida.