Sumire Hirotsuru
Violinist, Writer, Social entrepreneur
（日本語版プロフィールはこちら）
Sumire Hirotsuru is a professional violinist based in Tokyo/New York. She has appeared in notable venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Leipzig Gewandhaus and an album she joined as a member of The Knights has been nominated to the Grammys 2022. As a graduate of Harvard College and The Juilliard School, she enjoys her career on media and education as well by writing three Amazon best-seller books, serving as a weekly TV commentator on the Morning Show, and teaching as a guest lecturer at Seikei University and Akita International University. She is a co-founder of a summer education program Summer in JAPAN (since 2013) and recently released her debut CD “Mendelssohn Violin Concerto + Bach Chaconne.” She loves sleeping and watching cute Pomeranian videos.
If you would like to know more about me – here is my longer bio.
Born in Oita, Japan, New York/Tokyo-based violinist Sumire Hirotsuru has multifaceted interests in music, education, and media. She has performed as a soloist at major venues in the U.S. and Japan including Carnegie Hall, John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Suntory Hall, Pilobolous’ Five Senses Festival, National Cherry Blossom Festival, and Beppu Argerich Music Festival. She is a founding member of Ansonia Quartet, which has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, Museum of Modern Arts in New York (MoMA), Japanese Ambassador’s Residence in Washington D.C. and more. In 2019 she has participated in a tour with The Knights to Ravinia Festival and Tanglewood Festival with renowned violinist Gil Shaham, where they recorded an album that has been nominated to the Grammys 2022.
As she enjoys different genres of music, she has collaborated with the Video Game Orchestra to record soundtracks including Final Fantasy series and Kingdom Hearts series, with Típica Messiez to perform Argentinian tango, and with Yo-Yo Ma and Silk Road Ensemble for cultural collaborations. She also serves as an Artist Faculty and Education Advisor of Classical Music Institute in San Antonio, TX.
Sumire is a co-founder of Summer in JAPAN, an annual education program for Japanese schoolchildren since 2013 in Oita, Japan. She invites Harvard undergraduates to her hometown every summer to provide around a hundred Japanese schoolchildren aged 6-18 with intensive workshops such as computer science, presentation skills and academic writing. The concert series “Summer in JAPAN Classical Concert – Sumire Hirotsuru and her Harvard friends” has sold tickets to more than a thousand audiences by 2020, collaborating with many musicians from Harvard, Stanford, Juilliard and local professionals.
As a published author, Sumire often gives lectures and contributes articles in Japan based on her best-seller books on self-management; she has published three books, from KADOKAWA publishing and Diamond Inc. Her unique lecture concert series, combining a business seminar and a violin recital, has been featured on several TV shows. She is a regular commentator of a national TV show “Morning Show” on TV Asahi.
She earned a B.A. from Harvard University with the David McCord Prize in 2016, and a M.M. from The Juilliard School in 2018 with the William Schuman Prize, awarded for a graduate student with an outstanding achievement and leadership in Music. She has studied violin under Masao Kawasaki, Akiko Tatsumi, Eduard Schmieder, and Zakhar Bron and studied chamber music under the members of the Juilliard String Quartet. She serves as the Guest Lecturer at Seikei University, and Akita International University. She has recently released her debut CD “Mendelssohn Violin Concerto + Bach Chaconne.” (Repertoire list)
You might also be interested in…
✳︎ 16 Artists, a podcast series with Harvard Class of 2016 and the Office for the Arts at Harvard
✳︎ Pause for Art, a video compilation project by the Office for the Arts at Harvard
✳︎ Podcast Interview by Skip the Repeat “The Literal Five Minute Key to Productivity”
✳︎ My Interview Article with Damian Woetzel, the new President of The Juilliard School
✳︎ An episode of Creative World (KXLA), an interview show in greater LA area
✳︎ YouTube channel for some performance videos
✳︎ Last but not least, follow me on Instagram for more real-time updates!
Sumire Hirotsuru 