Charity Concert in Aid of the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Effort

The Toki Quartet performing Mozart, Barber, Arthur Bliss and a selection of Japanese pieces

There were collection boxes at the event and all funds raised were donated to the Japan Tsunami Appeal by the British Red Cross to help support the relief effort.

The Toki Quartet was formed in 2010 by 4 prize winning musicians at the Royal Academy of Music. They have taken part in master-classes with such quartets as the Maggini Quartet, Endellion Quartet Cambridge and the Belcea Quartet. They have also played together in concerts with such groups as the Chilingirian Quartet and the Scottish Ensemble.

 

Aki Sawa – 1st violin
Born in 1986 in Tokyo, Japan. Aki is now studying with Prof. Gyorgy Pauk at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded the Rowsby Woof Prize and the Wilfred Parry Prize. She won the 2nd prize at the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Paris. Aki has played concertos with the Geidai Philharmonia and the National Philharmonic of the Ukraine. She is a member of the LSO String Experience Scheme 2010/2011.

Midori Komachi – 2nd violin
Born in 1988, in Japan. Midori is currently on her Master of Music programme, studying with Maurice Hasson. At the age of 12, she studied at Basel Music University in Switzerland with Adelina Oprean. She has appeared as a soloist with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and has performed recitals in many venues including Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, St. Martin-in-the-fields, and Muza Kawasaki. She has won awards from Hattori Foundation and Max Pirani Prize.

Joseph Fisher- Viola
Born in Somerset, in 1989. Currently he is studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Garfield Jackson. He won the Roland Jacobs Viola Award, and was the principal violist in the Symphony Orchestra. He has been principal violist in National Youth Chamber Orchestra, University of London Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra.

Amy Jolly – Cello
Now undertaking a Master of Arts course with Josephine Knight, Amy studied previously with Jakob Kullberg at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and with Professor Valter Despalj in Zagreb, Croatia. In the past year, she has performed Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major twice in Denmark, was selected to be part of “A weekend of Russian Music” at Malvern Theatres and was part of Chopin Festival at Zagreb Academy.