Tchaikovsky’s majestic Italian Capriccio crowns our season, in a program that also includes a unique work: Concerto for Birds and Orchestra Cantus Arcticus by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Tokuji Miyasaka performing Italian virtuoso Nicolai Paganini’s breathtaking Violin Concerto No. 1.
The Devil’s Violin
May 5, 2025
7:30pm at Edmonds Center for the Arts
Concert Program
Borodin – In the Steppes of Central Asia
Paganini – Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, op.6
Tokuji Miyasaka, Violin Soloist
Rautavaara- Cantus Arcticus – Concerto for Birds and Orchestra
Tchaikovsky- Capriccio Italien, op. 45
Tokuji Miyasaka
Winner of the 2021 National MTNA Junior Strings Competition, 17-year-old violinist Tokuji Miyasaka is also a first prize laureate at the 2021 Kocian International Violin Competition, where the Jury Chairman, Pavel Hula, attributed his success to “precise virtuosity [and a] beautiful variety of colors.” He was awarded fourth prize at the 2022 Kloster Schöntal International Violin Competition and the special “Virtuoso” prize for his interpretation of Paganini’s Nel Cor Più Non Mi Sento, the only American to win this award in the competition’s 36-year history. Tokuji was named a Seattle Symphony Young Artist in 2023, and has been awarded more than 20 first prizes at competitions, including the Festival Medal at the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival Concerto Competition, the 2024 Portland Chamber Orchestra Young Artist Competition, the 2023 North Corner Chamber Orchestra’s Concerto Competition, the 2022 KING FM/Seattle Chamber Music Society Young Artists Award, the 2022 Washington-Idaho Symphony’s Young Artist Award, the 2021 Music of Remembrance Young Artists David Tonkonogui Memorial Award, and the 2018 Cascade Symphony Rising Star Competition.
Having performed across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, Tokuji made his solo orchestral debut at the age of eleven with the Spokane Symphony. Tokuji has since been featured as a soloist with the Seattle, Cascade, Washington-Idaho, and Fairbanks Symphonies, the North Corner Chamber Orchestra, and Philharmonia Northwest, and he has been invited to perform with the Portland Chamber Orchestra and Cascade Symphony in the 2024-2025 season. Tokuji has made appearances on The Violin Channel, NPR Music Live Sessions Song of the Day, and Classical KING FM’s Northwest Focus Live. In addition to his solo experience, Tokuji participates in the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Academy program as the first violinist of the Anserem Quintet. The group has been featured on Classical KING FM 98.1, as well as the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Academy Showcase concerts. Currently a member of the Coleman Violin Studio, Tokuji currently studies with Simon James and Hiro David.