Japanese Violinists and the Streaming Age — from Suwanai and the Goto Siblings to the SNS New Generation

Japan and the Violin

The violin, an Italian-born instrument and music, took deep root in Japan too in the 20th century. Japan is now one of the world’s leading producers of violinists, with a presence in education, making, and performance. As the final chapter of the 500-year lineage, we trace Japan and the present.

Akiko Suwanai — Tchaikovsky Competition Winner

Akiko Suwanai (1972-) is a leading Japanese violinist:

• In 1990, at 18, she won the Tchaikovsky International Competition — a feat tying the youngest-ever record
• Also placed high in the Queen Elisabeth International
• A poised, deep musicianship and an international career
• Loaned the Stradivari “Dolphin” (1714) by the Nippon Music Foundation — a masterwork also used by Heifetz
• A symbol in Japan of the “masterwork loan culture” of the second article

Midori and Ryu Goto — the Prodigy Siblings

Midori Goto (1971-) went from a world-famous child prodigy to a great artist:

• At 11, she performed with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, world-famous as a prodigy girl
• The 1986 legend at Tanglewood where, her string breaking twice during a performance, she played on across three violins to complete the piece (the “Tanglewood miracle,” front page of the NY Times)
• Alongside performing, she devotes herself to education and social contribution (community engagement)

Her brother Ryu Goto (1988-) is also active internationally as a violinist. A rare case of siblings standing at the world’s front rank.

Daishin Kashimoto — the Face of the Berlin Philharmonic

Daishin Kashimoto (1979-):

• Won numerous international competitions
• In 2009, appointed first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic — the “face” of the world’s finest orchestra
• Broadly active as soloist and in chamber music too

A Japanese person carrying the core of the world’s finest orchestra — showing the attainment of Japanese violin education.

The Suzuki Method — a Japan-Born Educational Method of the World

One of Japan’s greatest contributions to violin culture is the Suzuki Method:

• Founded by Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998)
• “Learning music like a mother tongue” — from early childhood, listening and imitating by ear, repetition
• Emphasizing ear and repetition over notation, with parental involvement
• Spread throughout the world — a Japan-born music education method became one of the global standards

The Suzuki Method influenced string education worldwide with the philosophy that “talent is not innate but nurtured by environment.”

Japanese Stringed-Instrument Making

Not only in performance but in making (luthiers), Japanese have come to the fore:

• Since the 20th century, Japanese makers have placed high in international making competitions
• Craftsmen who studied in Cremona return home to open workshops
• From handmade instruments to mass-produced instruments by Suzuki, Yamaha, and others (the broad base of education)

As with the piano (Yamaha, Kawai), Japan contributes to the world on both fronts of making and education for the violin.

The Violinist of the Streaming Age

In the 21st century, YouTube, SNS, and streaming produced a new image of the violinist:

• Publishing performance videos — masters and newcomers alike can deliver their playing directly to the world
• Hilary Hahn’s #100daysofpractice (previous article) — sharing the practice process changed the relationship with fans
• Crossover YouTubers — cover performances of pop, anime, and game music with millions of views
• Streaming — anyone can access classical recordings on Spotify and Apple Music

The age when the monopoly of “concert hall and record company” collapses and performers connect directly with audiences. Just as Paganini once thrilled audiences with “live virtuosity,” today’s players capture fans with “intimacy through the screen.”

An “Unchanging Instrument” Living in the Present

Finally, let us look back at the paradox of the violin we have seen throughout this series:

• The instrument unchanged for 300 years — the finest working ones are the Cremonese masterworks
• The music transformed — from the Baroque to contemporary music and crossover
• The means of transmission revolutionized — live performance → records → streaming and SNS

Because the violin is a “completed vessel,” it has, through 500 years, in an unchanging form, gone on reflecting the music and people of each era. If the piano is a “progressing instrument,” the violin is an “unchanging mirror reflecting the times.”

Concluding the Series

In eleven articles, we have traced the 500 years of the violin — the birth in Cremona and the mystery of the masterworks, the Baroque concerto, Bach’s solo works, Paganini’s virtuosity, the great Romantic concertos, the transformation of 20th-century language, the masters and contemporary players, and up to Japan and the streaming age.

The trinity of instrument, composer, and performer — but with the leading instrument a masterwork from 300 years ago — this peculiar lineage is the story of the violin, “the bowed string instrument closest to the human voice.” Read alongside the sister series [The Lineage of the Piano], the contrast of the “progressing instrument” and the “completed instrument” comes into ever sharper view.