Kazuhiro Takagi

Concertmaster Kazuhiro Takagi enjoys an international career and reputation as an experienced violin soloist, recording artist, and leader of orchestras. He has served tenures as concertmaster of the Tokyo Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra (under Daniel Barenboim), and solo concertmaster of the Yamagata Symphony and Wuerttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany. He has also held positions with the Osaka Philharmonic, Osaka Symphony, Japan Century Symphony, Vietnam National Symphony and the Kansai Philharmonic.

Mr. Takagi has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, Europe and Japan. He is a prizewinner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition and the 54th Geneva International Music Competition. As first violinist of the Eusia String Quartet, he received first prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in Indiana. For his performances, he has also received the coveted Aoyama Music Award of Kyoto Baroque Saal.

Born in Osaka, Japan, and currently a resident of Tokyo, Mr. Takagi returns to Dallas frequently, as he established deep roots in the North Texas community while studying violin with Eduard Schmieder at Southern Methodist University. Extensively trained on his instrument, he is a graduate of the prestigious Deuxieme Academie de Musique Francaise de Kyoto where he was a pupil of Pierre Dukan, and the Conservatoire National Superieur in Lyon, France, where he was mentored by Yuko Mori and Eduard Wulfson.

In addition to his duties as concertmaster of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, Mr. Takagi holds positions with the Nagaokakyo Chamber Ensmeble in Kyoto, Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka, Lilis Chamber Orchestra, and the alternative music group A Hundred Birds.

Mr. Takagi’s solo recordings with the Osaka Philharmonic are widely distributed on the Naxos label. His most recent album features the twentieth-century works of composer Hiroshi Ohguri.