Biography / プロフィール
Biography in English to be found at the bottom of this page.
伊藤悠貴
ブラームス国際コンクール第1位、齋藤秀雄メモリアル基金賞など多数受賞。名門フィルハーモニア管弦楽団との共演デビュー以来、国内外のオーケストラ、ウィグモア・ホールや主要な音楽祭など世界各地に客演。世界的作曲家・指揮者ヨハン・デ・メイからの信頼も厚く、チェロと管弦楽のための委嘱作品『エレジーとスケルツォ：ラフマニノフへのオマージュ』を献呈される他、全集CD録音をはじめ多数共演。その演奏は「センセーショナル」（The Strad, UK）、「極めて詩的」（The Ensemble, Germany）、「東洋人離れした音楽家」（American Record Guide）など欧米主要誌からも高く評価され、定期的に共演を重ねる渡邊智道（ピアノ）、中村愛（ハープ）とのデュオは「コンサート・ベストテン」（音楽の友）に選出。著書に学術単行本『ラフマニノフ考』（生誕150年記念）。
Yuki Ito (cellist, conductor, author)
Yuki Ito won 1st prize at both the International Brahms Competition in 2010 and the UK’s most prestigious Windsor Festival International String Competition in 2011, which led him to commence an international career.
He has since internationally appeared with major orchestras as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, Kärntner Sinfonieorchester, Slovenia Armed Forces Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras, and has regularly given recitals around the globe at venues like London’s Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. His performances have been internationally hailed by important critiques as “Sensational…His rubato is refined and intelligently complements the underlying harmonic movement” (Strad Magazine, UK), “Extraordinarily poetic accompanied by a wonderful singing tone” (Ensemble Magazine, Germany), “Ito plays with notable maturity and taste” (American Record Guide, USA).
He specialises in Rachmaninoff amidst his wide repertoire - having released his world-wide debut album “Rachmaninoff : Complete Cello Works” in 2012, he internationally gave “All Rachmaninoff” recitals every year towards the composer’s 150th birth anniversary in 2023, which was complemented by publishing his first book: a monograph “Thoughts on Rachmaninoff”.
In 2024 he released his first concerto album “Casanova” (Johan de Meij : The Complete Works for Cello and Wind Orchestra) world-wide, including a commissioned work dedicated to him “Elegy & Scherzo” (A Tribute to Sergei Rachmaninoff), with Johan de Meij himself on the podium. De Meij praised Yuki Ito’s playing of his own “Casanova”, a cello concerto fondly performed by cellists around the globe, as “It is absolute perfection in all aspects…The best version I (the composer) have ever heard in my life”.
As conductor Yuki Ito made his conducting debut at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 2013, and in 2016 he led the initial Japan tour of Camerata Luanda from Republic of Angola to success, a historical event which marked the first tour in Japan ever by an African orchestra.
In recent years he has been internationally invited to give masterclasses at conservatoires, as well as serving as adjudicator for international competitions.
He was awarded the “Hideo Saito Memorial Award” in 2019, one of the most honourable music awards in Japan, for his service to music.