Imai, Nobuko
Imai, Nobuko
Imai, Nobuko, Japanese violist; b. Tokyo, March 18, 1943. She was a student of Toshiya Eto and Hideo Saito at the Toho School of Music in Tokyo (B.A., 1965), of David Schwartz and Broadus Erie at Yale Univ. Graduate School (1965–66), and of Walter Trampler at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (1966–68). She took first prize at both the Munich (1967) and Geneva (1968) international viola competitions. In 1967 she made her U.S. debut in N.Y, and in 1969 she made her British debut. From 1974 to 1979 she was a member of the Vermeer Quartet. She also appeared as a soloist with leading European and American orchs., and performed at various festivals. She was a member of the Casals Hall Quartet in Tokyo from 1990. Imai was a prof, at the Detmold Hochschule für Musik from 1985. Her repertoire encompasses scores from Haydn to Schnittke. She was a soloist in the premieres of Tippett’s Triple Concerto (1980) and Takemitsu’s Viola Concerto (1989).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire