Short Bio

Hikaru Tamaki concertizes regularly as a soloist and a chamber musician. He served as the principal cellist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and was a member of the Freimann String Quartet. Before joining the Philharmonic, he was an associate principal cellist of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and performed under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall. Solo performances with the Philharmonic have included the Dvorak Cello Concerto, Don Quixote among other major concertos. He was awarded a bachelor of arts degree from Rice University and a master of music degree from Northwestern University, where his teachers were Paul Katz and Hans Jorgen Jensen. Hikaru was a prizewinner in the prestigious All Japan Viva Hall Cello Competition. He performs regularly with Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto/shamisen) under the moniker Duo YUMENO, and they were awarded the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program grant in 2014, and received the Aoyama Baroque Saal Award in the following year.

Full Bio

Hikaru Tamaki concertizes regularly as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player in the US and Japan. Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1975, he studied with Noboru Kamimura and Peter Seidenberg. Studies in the United States began in 1994 at the Eastman School of Music, where he was named a George Eastman Scholar, and continued at Rice University and Northwestern University. He was awarded a bachelor of arts degree from Rice and a master of music degree from Northwestern University, where his teachers were Paul Katz and Hans Jorgen Jensen.

Hikaru was a prizewinner in the prestigious All Japan Viva Hall Cello Competition in 2000. Other awards include First Prize at the Society of American Musicians Young Artists Competition and the Bach Festival Young Artists Competition in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was an associate principal cellist of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and performed under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall.

He served as the principal cellist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and was a member of the Freimann String Quartet from 2001 till 2013. Solo performances with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic have included the Dvorak Cello Concerto, Don Quixote, Schoelomo and Cello Concertos by Haydn. These performances were broadcast on “Masterwork Series” on WBNI (PBS). In 2008, he released his first solo album, which includes the works of J.S. Bach and Toshiro Mayuzumi.

During visits to Japan each year, he has given solo performances, lecture concerts and chamber concerts. He was a member of Arcadia Piano Trio with violinist Sukeyuki Iwatani and pianist Mai Akagi and performed at such venues as the United Nations, Arcady Music Festival, Musicasa (Tokyo) and Akishino Music Hall (Nara). In 2007, he gave a lecture concert at Gakushuin Women’s College and his activities have been featured in the media such as Yomiuri Shinbun and Kyoto Shinbun.

In 2008, he began collaborations Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto/shamisen) and they have given concerts and workshops at various cities in Japan, the US and around the world under the moniker Duo YUMENO. The duo was awarded the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program grant in 2014, and in the following year, received the Aoyama Baroque Saal Award.

In 2014, he was invited to serve as a guest principal cellist of the Reading Symphony Orchestra and SONOS Chamber Orchestra. Between 2015 and 2016, Hikaru premiered Sheila Silver’s chamber opera, Thousand Splendid Suns, based on Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel. In 2016, he served as the principal cellist of the Berkshire Opera Festival.