saturdays with classics
with DSO Violinist Kyoko Kashiwagi & Pianist Tomoko Mack
Saturday, march 22, 2025
2:00 PM
General Admission - $20
Steinway Society Members - $15
Ages 18 & Under - $10
No Reservations Necessary.
Cash or check, payable at the door
Kyoko Kashiwagi is an avid chamber musician as well as an experienced orchestral player. Born in Zurich, Switzerland and raised in Tokyo, she began taking violin lessons at an early age. By the time she finished elementary school, she had a modest dream of pursuing a career in music. She was accepted at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music where she studied with Koichiro Harada, the original first violinist of the famed Tokyo String Quartet. While attending the school, she won the concerto competition and performed Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto. Mr. Harada was an inspiring figure to Ms. Kashiwagi and with his encouragement, she decided to take an audition to study at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay, Joseph Fuchs, and Joel Smirnoff of the Juilliard String Quartet. There she met her future colleagues and formed Amernet String Quartet.
As a first violinist of the quartet, she led the group to win the first prize at the Fifth Banff International String Quartet Competition (1995), Tokyo Music Competition (1995), and Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, among others. The Amernet Quartet studied with the Tokyo Quartet and members of the LaSalle Quartet at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. They received multiple awards and performed throughout the United States, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, and Switzerland and also have been invited to perform at Aspen, Newport, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Norfolk, Lucerne, and the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart music festivals.
After leaving the quartet, she moved to Michigan where she teaches privately and performs as a member of the Muse Ensemble as well as on stage with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Tomoko Mack began her piano studies at age 5, and performed in public at age 7. She fell in love with the sound of the piano at a young age and it hasn’t changed! Tomoko came to the United States at age 10, and continued her studies, performing and competing at regional, national and International competitions. She won 1st place with her sister Yuki in Tokyo International duo competition, and a special “Kodama” prize from the founder of the competition. She was also a top prize winner with her sister in the Dranoff International duo competition in Miami, Florida. She has recorded four acclaimed CDs with her sister. Her recordings are available on CD Baby and also through her website.
Tomoko is an active performer, teacher, and she is also frequently invited to adjudicate at major piano competitions in the U.S.A. and Japan. Tomoko has served since 2010 as the artistic director for the Steinway Society of Michigan. Since 2023, she has held a teaching position at the Wayne State University piano department. She is on a faculty at Wayne State University. Every summer she travels to Poland to teach, perform and co-direct with her husband, pianist Kazimierz Brzozowski the International Piano Festival in Nałęczów. They spend two summer months in their second home in a quaint old town of Kazimierz Dolny enjoying family life and preparing new repertoire.
Tomoko is a co-founder of the International Piano Festival in Nałęczów, Poland and she received a Commissioner’s Medal of Honor from the Ministry of Education in 2021 in Warsaw. She has broadcasted live from Chicago” Myra Hess”, Stockholm, Japan, Italy, Germany and Poland.