Gentaro Sakaguchi

Born in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. Graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Music, Department of Instrumental Music, majoring in Viola in 1999. He joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra in October 2000 and completed his graduate studies in 2001. He studied viola under Yoshiaki Nakatsuka and viola and piano duet under Katsuya Matsubara.

Born in Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, he started playing the violin at the age of four and switched to the viola in 2005 when he entered the Tokyo University of the Arts Music High School. He has studied violin under Noriko Sato, Kanako Kikuchi, Yuki Togi, Midori Kondo, and Nobu Wakabayashi, and viola under Yuki Hyakutake and Kazunori Kawasaki. He has won many awards and is active both in Japan and abroad.

After graduating from Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, he completed his master’s course at the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School. He won the highest award at the 8th Japan Performers Competition. He is a member of The 4 Players Tokyo (string quartet), Alto de Campagne (viola quartet), and Partenza Quintet (piano quintet). He is the principal viola of Future Orchestra Classics (formerly Nagano Chamber Orchestra).

He started learning the violin at the age of 6 and switched to the viola at the age of 18. After graduating from the Department of Instrumental Music at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he completed his master’s degree at the Graduate School of Music at the same university. He has participated in the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project XVI and XVII, Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival 2018 and 2019, Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy Okushiga 2018, 2019 and 22, Ono Cultural Foundation Viola Academy, Kitakyushu International Music Festival, Tokyo Spring Music Festival, Takefu International Music Festival 2022, etc.