【Announcement: Change of Faculty Member and Concert Name】
We would like to inform you that Professor Wenting Kang, who was scheduled to teach at the Tamba Sasayama International Viola Masterclass, will be taking up a new position as Professor of Viola at the New England Conservatory in Boston, USA, starting in September 2025.
Due to this new appointment, she will be unable to participate in this year’s masterclass. Instead, we are pleased to welcome Ms. Megumi Kasakawa as her replacement.
In addition, Mr. Ryo Oshima will perform in the Masterclass Concert II in place of Professor Kang.
Accordingly, the concert title will be changed from the original “Imai Viola Quartet Concert” to the new “Faculty Concert.”
We appreciate your kind understanding and continued support.
Megumi Kasakawa
Megumi Kasakawa is a violist highly regarded in the field of contemporary music. Based in Frankfurt since 2010, she is a member of Ensemble Modern and performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician at major festivals across Europe.
After graduating from Soai University in Japan, she switched from violin to viola and studied under Nobuko Imai at the Geneva Conservatory, graduating with top honors and a special prize.She later worked as Ms. Imai’s assistant. She has appeared as principal violist with the Porto Symphony and Frankfurt Symphony, and as a soloist with orchestras including the Kobe Chamber Orchestra and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie.
Kasakawa has worked with conductors such as Ingo Metzmacher, Sylvain Cambreling, and Joseph Wolfe, and received particular praise for her interpretation of Gérard Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques.
From 2018 to 2022, she served as Artistic Director of the International Ensemble Modern Academy. In 2019, she co-founded TRIO ESTATICO with violists from Ensemble intercontemporain and Klangforum Wien, commissioning and premiering over 30 new works for viola trio.
She is also active as a teacher, giving masterclasses for both violists and composers at institutions including the Venice Biennale, universities in Taiwan, and the Greek National Opera. She performs on a 1580 viola by Pellegrino di Michelis.
Ryo Oshima
Ryo Oshima completed his studies at Toho Gakuen School of Music and its graduate program. He won First Prize in the 11th Concours Marronnier 21 (String Division) and the 7th Tokyo Music Competition (String Division), and received a Diploma Prize at the 42nd Markneukirchen International Competition. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra. Since his debut recital at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan in 2012, he has regularly held recitals, receiving high acclaim. He has appeared at Viola Space, the Kiso Music Festival, the Saito Kinen Orchestra, among others. In addition to being an active chamber musician, he devotes himself to teaching the next generation, serving as an assistant to Nobuko Imai at the YURAGI-no-SATO Viola Masterclass and giving seminars throughout Japan. He is currently Principal Violist of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra.