Akiko Suwanai

Capturing audiences with her ​“staggering sonority” (The Straits Times, April 2025), Japanese violinist Akiko Suwanai is a musician of considerable versatility and breadth of repertoire. Since winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990 she has enjoyed a flourishing career, performing internationally in chamber music and recital and engaging at the highest level with orchestras and conductors.

Suwanai begins the 2025/26 season with returns to the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/​Duncan Ward and the Budapest Festival Orchestra / Jaime Martín, and will debut with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg / Andrey Boreyko. Later in the autumn she will join the Hallé Orchestra and Principal Conductor Kahchun Wong on tour in China and in Manchester and Sheffield, as well as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with Jaime Martín on tour in Spain and in Cardiff. Other highlights include the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice / Lionel Bringuier, the Lahti Symphony / Christian Schumann and returns to the Belgian National Orchestra / Antony Hermus and the Macao Orchestra / Lio Kuokman. Suwanai’s 2024/25 season was marked by an Asian and European tour with the NHK Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi performing Berg’s Violin Concerto, returns to Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/​Paavo Järvi and the Gürzenich-Orchester / Sakari Oramo, and a debut with Sydney Symphony Orchestra/​Dmitry Matvienko.