Seiki Shinohe

Seiki Shinohe graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1974. He has studied under the late Kunio Chiba, the late Katsusuke Mishima, and Yuji Murai. During his studies he was discovered by Karl Leister, and moved to Germany after graduation. He has performed a Mozart Concerto in front of Herbert von Karajan, and was given admission to the Berlin Karajan Akademie. He has studied clarinet with Karl Leister and chamber music with Horst Göbel. Since then, he has participated in regular performances with Berlin Philharmonic and Salzburg Festival. From 1978 to 1980 he was the principal player for the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie orchestra. And from 1980 t0 1994, the principal player for the Berliner Symphoniker. During that time he performed under world-famous conductors like Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, and Sir Simon Denis Rattle. Shinohe returned to Japan in 1995. He was appointed Principal of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, retiring in March 2011. He is active in his solo and chamber music work, and since his awards in the International Johannes Brahms Competition (Trio category winner, and special prize winner), he has performed concertos with orchestras like the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, as well as with the Brandis Quartett Berlin, which includes the principal players of the Berlin Philharmonic. In recent years he has been gaining renown by performing in the Toppan Hall Ensemble series with artists from Japan and abroad, including Fumiaki Miyamoto and Rainer Kussmaul (former Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster). He is currently teaching the next generations as a professor at Tokyo College of Music, and as a part-time lecturer at Toho Gakuen College and Nihon University College of Art. He is also a the specialist lecturer for Buffet Crampon Japan Co., Ltd.