ASAKO UEDA
Historical plucked instruments (Lute, Theorbo, Renaissance & Baroque guitar),
Violin and Viola (Modern & Baroque)
“The moment when Ueda played “Toccata Arpeggiata” [by Kapsberger] was beautiful. One could see it happen: the theorbo player completely detached herself from the score and became one with the music, which thus sounded compelling.”
by RUDOLF HUNNIK
The Japanese lutenist Asako Ueda began playing the violin when she was five years old. She studied the violin at Toho Gakuen High School and Toho Gakuen College of Music in Japan. After finishing her Bachelor, she continued at her college to study the Baroque violin with Ryo Terakado and composition with Masahiro Ishijima. She started playing the lute while in college.
In 2016, she gave her first lute and theorbo solo recital. Later that year, she moved to the Netherlands to study the lute and theorbo.
She is currently studying Medieval and Renaissance music with Dr. Marc Lewon at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, after having studiend the lute at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, with Mike Fentross and Joachim Held, where she earned her Bachelor’s with honours (10/10) and Master’s with distinction and Video Presentation Prize for her Master thesis.
She played at several music festivals, among which the Chofu music festival (Japan), Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival (The Netherlands), MAfestival Brugge (Belgium) and Bach Academie Brugge (Belgium) and Monteverdi XL (The Netherlands). She won first prize at the Biagio Marini Competition (Germany) and the third prize at the International Van Wassenaer Competition (The Netherlands), both times with IJ SPACE.
She took part in a CD recording with Ensemble Contraponto (Japan) conducted by Tetsuro Hanai and she is a member of La Musica Collana (Japan), Petits Violons (Japan), Ensemble Irene (Japan), IJ SPACE (Taiwan) and Maarten Engeltjes & PRJCT Amsterdam (Holland). She founded “Sponte Sua” and with Pablo Sosa in 2018.
In 2019, she established herself not only as an ensemble player but now also as a prominent soloist, giving solo recitals on theorbo at the Luitdag of the Dutch Lute Society (The Netherlands), on Renaissance lute at Dag van het Kasteel (The Netherlands) and at Schiezicht Klassiek (The Netherlands).
Her interests are not limited to only Renaissance and Baroque music, but extend also to Medieval and contemporary music. She studied Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony with Tetsuro Hanai in Japan and Mikae Natsuyama in Holland. She has premiered pieces as a theorbo player and Baroque violin player in Ensemble Muromachi in Japan.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gqQtlfFpwH6Pttq0blkGw
Asako Ueda Historical plucked instruments player 