Chikako Sasaki

Chikako Sasaki graduated with distinction from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, in 2015 where she studied violin performance under Zuo Jun. During her studies, she won the Second Prize at the YST Concerto Competition (Violin) and worked professionally with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra. She worked with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta prior to joining the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Chikako was born in Fukushima, Japan and began her violin lessons with Yoko Tanaka. She then moved to New Zealand in 2007 and continued her lessons with Emma Barron and Vesa-Matti Leppänen, Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. While in New Zealand, she has appeared as a soloist with the Wellington Youth Orchestra and the Manawatu Sinfonia performing concertos by Sibelius and Saint-Saëns.

In 2013, she was given the opportunity to perform chamber music with distinguished musicians, Elmar Oliveira, Barbara Westphal and Emmanuel Feldman at the Heifetz International Music Institute in the U.S. She was also invited to take part in the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy in Okushiga in 2014 where she performed under the baton of Seiji Ozawa. She has participated in masterclasses for both solo and chamber music from renowned musicians such as Yair Kless, Eyal Kless, Charles Castleman, Feng Ning, Midori, Patinka Kopec, David and Linda Cerone, Laurence Dutton (Emerson Quartet), Shanghai Quartet, Juilliard Quartet, Miro Quartet and Shmuel Ashkenasi among others.

She plays on a 1914 Annibale Fagnola generously loaned by Mr. and Mrs. Rin Kei Mei.