Sakura Toba

© (c) Julia Wesely

Sakura Toba

Sakura Toba was born into a family of professional musicians in Vienna, Austria, in
2005, and began studying the cello at age six with Prof. Hakuro Mori at the
Toho Music School for Children. Since 2018, she has also attended master
classes by Antonio Meneses and David Geringas at the Chigiana Summer Music
Academy.

In 2018, she won a gold medal at the 18th Izuminomori Junior Cello Competition
in Japan, and a bronze medal at the 19th International “Nutcracker” Televised
Contest for Young Musicians, held in Moscow, Russia.

Sakura gave her first solo recital in March 2019, and in April a fan club was
founded to support her musical activities. In October of that year, she
performed at Suntory Hall with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra under the
direction of Ryusuke Numajiri, as soloist in Tchaikovsky's "Variations on
a Rococo Theme.” In November she was awarded “The 2nd Shinji Hattori Music
Award,” which is given to internationally promising young musicians.

In January 2020, Sakura was heard on NHK-FM’s Classical Program "Recital
Passio.” From June to October, she held a series of solo recitals that were
widely acclaimed. In November, she debuted with the Yokohama Sinfonietta under
the direction of Kazuki Yamada, performing Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1.

In 2021, Sakura founded the volunteer organization “Music Giving,” which aims
to provide young students more opportunities to hear classical music.

Sakura plays on a replica of the 1739 Montagnana "Sleeping Beauty."
Since April 2020, she has been enrolled as a scholarship student in the Soloist
Diploma Course of Toho Gakuen University. She is also a recipient of the 50th
Ezoe Memorial Recruit Foundation scholarship and the 2021 ROHM Music Foundation
scholarship.

09/2022

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