Sono Tokuda – Violin
Sono Tokuda was born in 1980 in Chiba-ken (Japan). She received her first violin lessons in 1984 in Munich. At the age of eleven she became a junior student with Koji Toyoda at the Berlin University of Arts. At 14 she had already performed as a soloist with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in the Berliner Philharmonie. In 2004, as a student of Rainer Kussmaul, she graduated with honours from the Freiburg Conservatory. Subsequently, she attended the Academy of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Sono Tokuda was recipient of the Villa Musica and the Landessammlung Streichinstrumente Baden-Württemberg stipends and obtained a national grant from the Japanese Ministry of Culture. She was awarded several competition prizes as a member of the Freiburg-based “Jade-Quartett” as well as receiving awards for her solo performances. In the framework of the Villa Musica foundation she performed with, among others, Rainer Kussmaul, Radovan Vlatkovic and Hariolf Schlichtig. In 2004 she received the promotion prize of the European Foundation for Culture “Pro Europa”. Since August 2006 she has been a tutti player of the 1st Violins of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg.
Sono Tokuda plays a violin made by Stefano Scarampella.