YUKI ITO (Cello) was born in 1989 and started playing the cello at the
age of six. He has studied with Prof. Sumiko Kurata and Prof. Alexander
Boyarsky in the UK.
In July 2007, he graduated from the Purcell School, where he had held a
scholarship under the UK Government’s Music and Dance Scheme, with the
prestigious Pierre Fournier Award. He entered the Royal College of Music
with a full scholarship in September 2007. For the year 2007/08 he is also
receiving a scholarship from the Japanese Government Overseas Study
Programme for Young Artists.
Yuki received an individual lesson from Frans Helmerson at the Ninth RNCM
International Cello Festival in the UK in May 2007, and as a result of
having been chosen from the whole of Europe as an individual participant for
the master class by Janos Starker at the Kronberg Academy in Germany, he had
his lesson in June 2007. He has also had master classes and private lessons
in the UK and Europe given by David Geringas and Ralph Kirshbaum, to name
but two.
Yuki received numerous first prizes in major junior competitions in Japan. He
has also been awarded many first prizes in the UK, including the Marlow Music
Festival International Competition. In October 2006 Yuki became the first
prize winner at the 6th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition and
won the Zagreb Management Award, which results in a recital tour in Croatia
in December 2008.
Yuki has given many concerto performances and recitals in the UK, other
countries in Europe and Japan, including a performance of the Dvorak Cello
Concerto with the South Bank Sinfonia at the Cadogan Hall in June 2007, and
the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Ealing Symphony Orchestra in
February 2008. He has frequently made solo appearances, and has performed
chamber music at the Wigmore and Cadogan Halls in the UK.
April 2008