CocoTomita

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  • Violin

About Coco

Hailed by critics and audiences alike, Japanese violinist Coco Tomita first gained recognition after winning the BBC Young Musician 2020 Strings Category. She was subsequently invited to record her debut album, ‘Origins’ with Orchid Classics, which received a succession of rave reviews from The Strad, Gramophone Magazine, BBC Music Magazine and The Guardian, among others, and was selected as ‘Disc of the month’ by Apple in April 2022. Coco has since received over 5.5 million streams on Apple Music alone and releases her follow up album ‘Echoes’ in September 2024.

Coco continues to perform around the UK with pianist Simon Callaghan, the 2024/25 season includes recital debuts in Saffron Hall and Bechstein Hall.

Last season Coco made her debut at Harrogate International Festival, St George’s Hall, Bristol and Dubai Opera.

Based in London and Berlin, Coco recently completed a triumphant debut tour of Japan, highlights of which included her concerto debut with Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Masahiko Enkoji, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Axelrod at the Suntory Hall. She has also appeared as a soloist with London Mozart Players, Philharmonie Baden-Baden and Bath Philharmonia.

Since 2021, she has been studying under the guidance of Professor Kolja Blecher at the Hochschule fur Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin.

Contact

Jack Haynes

Jack Haynes

Artist Manager
Melanie Moult

Melanie Moult

Associate Director

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Follow Coco

Photos

Selected Repertoire

Bartok

Violin Concerto No. 1, Sz. 36

Beethoven

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61

Bruch

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26

Chausson

Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Op.21

Glazunov

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82

Mendelssohn

Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

Mozart

Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat, K.207

Mozart

Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218

Tchaikovsky

Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, Op. 35

Vivaldi

The Four Seasons

Sample Programmes

  • 24/25 (1)

    FRANZ SCHUBERT: Violin Sonata Grand Duo in A major D574 TORU TAKEMITSU: From Far Beyond Chrysanthemums and November Fog CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Violin Sonata in G minor, L 140 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: 24 Preludes for piano op 34 arr. for Violin & Piano (selection) or SERGEI PROKOFIEV: Five Melodies Op. 35 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major Op. 134

  • 24/25 (2)

    JOHANNES BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major Op. 100 "Meistersinger" F-A-E Sonata MAURICE RAVEL: Violin Sonata No. 1 IGOR STRAVINSKY: Divertimento for Violin and Piano

News

Press

  • Debut Recording: Origins (Orchid Classics)

    Mar 2022

    • I can well imagine that before long Coco Tomita will be celebrated among the best younger violinists...

    • In the opening movement of Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 2 Tomita combines tonal sweetness with a welcome tensile element […]. In the central ‘Blues’ movement Tomita enjoys the jazzy swoops and slides without over-doing them, and her pizzicatos have a crack of emotional urgency to them. […] This is a fresh, consistently stimulating account of Ravel’s sonata. In Poulenc’s Violin Sonata sparks fly in the opening movement, as they should, the astringent edges sharpened by Tomita’s clean attack and spot-on intonation. …this is a richly promising recording debut.

    • ...the BBC young violinist’s debut is a winner… The playing, technically dazzling and characterful, bursts with musical intelligence […]. The choice of repertoire, of her own devising, is a refreshing mix.

    • A head-turning debut from BBC Young Musician strings winner… …this crisply captured programme […] is outstanding. …there’s the sinuously curling, time-suspended beauty that Tomita weaves for Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne; her more softly cloaked tone for Debussy’s Beau soir; and the world of colour and emotion that she packs into just the first phrase of Hubay’s glittering Fantaisie brillante, moving from a piercingly poignant wail to sweet tenderness. More please.

    • 10 Best Classical Albums of the month (April 2022) This superb debut album emerged from Coco Tomita’s triumph in the Strings category of the 2020 BBC Young Musician competition. […] the Japanese violinist gives us a well-chosen selection of (mainly) early 20th-century music for violin and piano […] each brilliantly differentiated and characterized, reveal a big musical personality

      • Apple Music
      • 07 March 2022

  • Recording: Echoes (Orchid Classics)

    Sep 2024

    • The dark and turbulent sound world of Prokofiev’s First Sonata demands a heavier touch from both musicians. Yet Tomita never sacrifices purity of intonation in drawing out the raw anguish of the first movement, and Callaghan evokes the pounding weight of the ‘war’ sonatas without overwhelming his partner. Violence often turns ugly in both Prokofiev and Janáček, a tendency altogether avoided here. Rather, the wide-eyed wonder of Janáček’s violin-writing becomes an effective bridge between his two contemporaries. However generic the title appears at first sight, ‘Echoes’ reflects a hall of mirrors in which the folk-inspired melodic language of each composer retains its individuality while speaking and singing in a shared Slavic grammar, each of them inflected by the sense of loss which permeates their time. In all three works, Tomita captures a fierce and urgent rapture that survives the editing suite as an impressive sequel to the ‘Origins’...

    • Dat violiste Coco Tomita een onvervalst podiumbeest is, daar twijfelt niemand nog aan: het toonaangevende Gramophone Magazine noemde haar ‘one to watch’, ze won de Young Musician-wedstrijd van de BBC, en Classic FM bombardeerde haar tot ‘Young Classical Star’.

Discography