Position:
Victor Brown Endowed Chair in Violin; Professor, ViolinLocation:
Armstrong Hall, Room 29Phone:
(540) 230-6404Email: atakayam@rrmbaojie.com
Employed Since:
2007Applied Area(s):
Violin
Educational History:
Certificate, University of Wyoming; B.M., Toho School of Music; Diploma, M.M., Cleveland Institute of Music; D.M.A., Stony Brook University
Professional Highlights:
Akemi Takayama is a professor at Shenandoah Conservatory, where she holds the Victor Brown Endowed Chair in Violin. Since 2004, she has also been serving as the concertmaster of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and since 2008, she has also serving concertmaster for Williamsburg Symphonia. A native of Japan, Ms. Takayama’s professional violin career began in Japan at the age of fifteen. She has performed throughout Japan, France and the U.S.; recent symphony collaborations in Virginia include the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Opera Roanoke, Shenandoah Performs, the Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia, and Williamsburg Symphonia. Ms. Takayama was a member of the internationally renowned Audubon Quartet for fourteen years while the group toured regionally and nationally. Recent solo performances with orchestras include Daugherty s Fire and Blood and Ladder to the Moon, Mendelssohn s Double Concerto, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos, Pärt s Fratres, Beethoven s Violin Concerto, Triple Concerto and Brahms s Double Concerto for violin and cello, Mozart’s Violin Concerto, Roskott’s Violin Concerto, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Double Concerto. Acclaimed by Isaac Stern as a true musician, she was invited to the Marlboro Music Festival and has served on the faculties of the Chautauqua Institute in New York, the Idyllwild School for the Arts in California, the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, Shenandoah Performs in Virginia and at Virginia Tech. Ms. Takayama is active as an educator and arts advocate throughout Virginia.
Countless of her violin students have active performing careers in Chamber Music, Orchestras, Country Music and CD recordings. Many are accepted/went on to continue for their Master of Music or Doctor of Musical Arts.
Awards/Winners (sample listings): Charleston International Music Competition, Global International Music Competition, Petrichor International Music Competition, Virginia String Teachers Association, Music Teacher’s National Association, Kings Peak International Music Competition, North American Virtuoso International Music Competition, London Classical Music Competition. Bluegrass Entertainers of the Year SPBGMA (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association. Marion Park Lewis Foundation. Ryuji Ueno Foundation.
Accepted/Scholarships to Institutions (sample listings): Oberlin College, University of Maryland, Roosevelt University, Penn State University, Stony Brook University, Lynn University, Florida State University. Arizona State University, Manhattan University, Indiana University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts – UNCSA, Florida State University, Case Western Reserve University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, East Carolina University, The Catholic University of America, University of York in the United Kingdom, Royal Academy of London, Queens College/Aaron Copland School of Music, Member/Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, Member/Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, Member/Penn’s Woods Music Festival, Lector/Common Sense Society, Europa Fellowship, Hungary. Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, England. Queens University/Ireland, Boston University. East Carolina University, Michigan State University. Boston Conservatory,
Positions (sample listings): Executive Director/Early Music America, Members/Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Member/Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, New Orchestra of Washington, Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster/Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington (PACO), Concertmaster/National String Symphonia (NSS), Member/Apollo Orchestra, Member/Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, Member/Argot String Quartet, Member/ Annapolis Symphony in Annapolis, MD, Member/National String Symphonia in Rockville, MD, Adjunct Professor/Bridge Water College, Adjunct Professor/Frederick (Maryland) Community College Adjunct Professor/Northern Virginia Community College’s (NVCC) Woodbridge campus, Instructor/Trenton Music Makers (El Sistema), Instructor/State College Music Academy, Instructor/State College Suzuki Program, Member/South Shore Symphony Orchestra, Faculty/Long Island Studio of Music. Member/Nothin’Fancy. Instructor/University of South Carolina, Faculty/Suzuki Academy of Columbia. Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Prince William Symphony Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, and the Duke Vespers Ensemble
Akemi performed All Beethoven Sonata Duo with renowned pianist, John O’Conor. Her ongoing projects include completing her doctorate degree at Stony Brook University and an association with The New Orchestra of Washington. During her previous graduate studies, Ms. Takayama was a teaching assistant to the renowned Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she earned both an Artist Diploma and a Master of Music degree. Previously she studied with Toshiya Eto and Ryosaku Kubota at the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in music performance, and with Brian Hanly at the University of Wyoming, where she earned her professional studies degree. Her recordings with the Audubon Quartet are on the Centaur and Composers Recordings labels. Her solo recordings are found on Blackwater Recording. She plays on a Gennaro Gagliano violin made in 1755, kindly loaned by Japanese-American collector and philanthropist Dr. Ryuji Ueno. In the fall of 2012, she served as a faculty at Oberlin Conservatory. Ms. Takayama has served as a Judge for Music Teacher’s National Association, Virginia String Teacher’s Association, The Violin Society of America, Japan Strings Competition, and American Virtuoso International Music Competition (AVIMC), among others.