American Viola Society Green Room Event with Nobuko Imai 

New! The AVS invites leaders in the viola world to our virtual green room for an informal live discussion, with a Q&A opportunity for participants.

This month, AVS Green Room host Steven Tenenbom welcomes Nobuko Imai. 

Nobuko Imai began her musical training at the age of six and began her viola studies at Tokyo's Toho Gakuen School of Music. Then later studied at the Juilliard School and Yale University. She won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1967 and highest prize at both the Geneva International Music Competition and ARD international Music Competition.

She has worked in chamber music projects with artists that include Martha Argerich, Kyung-Wha Chung, Heinz Holliger, Mischa Maisky, Midori, Murray Perahia, Gidon Kremer, Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Andras Schiff, Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman. She has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, London Symphon Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She is a former member of the Vermeer Quartet and is the founder and member of the Michaelangelo Quartet, performing with Mihaela Martin, Daniel Austrich and Frans Helmerson. For young musicians from Japan and the Netherlands, she founded the East West Baroque Academy.

She has released more than 30 recordings, and is the recipient of numberous awards, including the Avon Arts Award (1993), Japan's Suntory Music Award (1995) and Mainichi Award of Arts (1996). She was named an Honorary Member of the American Viola Society in 2014.

(Photo courtesy Nobuko Imai Archives)