Keiko Tokunaga – violin

Winner of the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/ Small Ensemble Performance, violinist Keiko Tokunaga performs globally as a soloist and chamber musician. Keiko has been praised by the Strings Magazine for possessing a sound “with probing quality that is supple and airborne” and for her “pure, pellucid bow strokes”. She has soloed with various orchestras including the Spanish National Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orchestrada Tokyo and Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Orchestra.

Keiko is the founder and artistic director of INTERWOVEN, an intercultural ensemble that celebrates and integrates traditional Asian music and Western classical music. INTERWOVEN has performed in diverse venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Roulette Brooklyn and Annex at Vancouver Civic Centre, among others. The group was awarded two major fundings in 2023 from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council as well as Canada Council For the Arts for their original community-focused project, FantAsia!.

Prior to the establishment of INTERWOVEN, Keiko played with the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet from 2005 to 2019; the ensemble won numerous prestigious awards including the GRAMMY Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance, First Prize at the 7th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, and the Australian Broadcast Corporation Classic FM Listener’s Choice Award at the 6th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. As a former winner of the Osaka Competition, Keiko was appointed to lead national concert tours of Japan sponsored by the Japan Chamber Music Foundation in 2020 and 2021.

Keiko plays on a J. B. Vuillaume violin from 1845, generously loaned by an anonymous donor. She also enjoys playing on a Baroque-style violin made by Antonio Mariani, circa 1669, formerly in the collection of Gabriel Schaff. Her bow was made by Nicolas Maire circa 1850.

For more information about Keiko, please visit her website.