- Star Online, March 2008
The youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Akiko Suwanai has established an international career, performing regularly in concert and recital in the major cities of Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Upcoming highlights include tours with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valeriy Gergiev, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Sakari Oramo, and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse under Tugan Sokhiev. She will also perform with the Orchestre National de Belgique, Orquesta Nacional de España, Residentie Orkest, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Bamberger Symphoniker amongst others.
In spring 2009 Akiko Suwanai was invited to open the Shanghai International Music Festival as the first Japanese violinist, an important event broadcast on national television. She recently gave the world premiere of Peter Eötvös's composition Seven at the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Boulez.
Akiko Suwanai’s extensive discography with Universal Music has garnered much critical acclaim. Her latest release was a recital disc of Beethoven Sonatas with Nicholas Angelich.
Akiko Suwanai performs on the Antonio Stradivarius 1714 violin ‘Dolphin’, kindly loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation.