As a child, Takako Nishizaki studied with her father, Shinji, the co-founder of the Suzuki Method and with Shinichi Suzuki himself. She was the first student to complete the now famous Suzuki course and was awarded a teacher’s diploma at the tender age of nine. In 1964 she won second prize at the Leventritt International Competition (behind Itzhak Perlman) and in 1969 first prize in the Juilliard Concerto Competition (performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Nobuko Imai). Her success at the Leventritt International Competition launched her concert career, initially only in the United States but subsequently internationally. Takako Nishizaki also served on the juries of major international violin competitions including the Fritz Kreisler (Vienna) , Michael Hill (New Zealand) and Hannover competitions. Takako Nishizaki is one of the most frequently recorded and among the bestselling violinists of all time. Her recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was named the 8th best-selling classical CD of all time with sales exceeding 1, 000, 000 copies to-date. Her recordings of the Butterfly Lovers Concerto by He and Chen sold more than three million copies in the People’s Republic of China and throughout South-East Asia. Takako Nishizaki’s recordings of the Mozart violin concertos and violin sonatas were chosen for the CDs accompanying the famous book. When the CDs were release in the United States they became the bestselling classical CDs at the time, with total sales exceeding 1 million copies. Since settling in Hong Kong in 1974, Takako Nishizaki has become the best-known and bestselling performer of Chinese violin music. In addition to the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto (which she recorded seven times with Japanese and Chinese orchestras as well as with the New Zealand Symphony and the Singapore Chinese Folk Orchestra) she has performed and recorded concertos dedicated to her by Du Ming-Xin and Chen Gang. She also recorded a large number of shorter pieces with piano accompaniment but also accompanied by distinguished performers on Chinese instruments such as pipa (Chinese lute) and zheng (Chinese zither) as well as duos with Chinese er-hu (fiddle) virtuosi. In 1982 Takako Nishizaki recorded a CD of Thai melodies with American Pianist Bruce Gaston which became the best-selling ever CD of a classical artist in Thailand. In 2001 Takako Nishizaki was awarded the Golden Merit Award of the Republic of Austria in recognition of her service to music in general and to Austrian music in particular. Takako Nishizaki has taken part in numerous charity concerts in Hong Kong benefiting the following charities: Pathway Foundation, Hospital Authority Charitable Foundation, Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation, Society for Abandoned Animals, Red Cross, Rotary Club of Wanchai, Po Leung Kuk. For the past few years, she has been the spokesperson for Benji’s Center. Takako Nishizaki now lives in Hong Kong with her husband but has a second home in Auckland, New Zealand. She travels frequently and her favourite cities are Sydney, Vienna and San Francisco. Takako Nishizaki has her own Violin Teaching Studio in Hong Kong. Her teaching method combines the best elements of the Suzuki Method with traditional teaching. With four assistants, all trained by her, the studio has almost 200 students. Many of these win prizes at the Hong Kong schools annual music competition, frequently competing with students twice their age. In April of 2008, Takako Nishizaki accomplished one of her lifelong dreams, by recording all the music contained in the sheet music of the world famous Suzuki Method Books for Violin, Volumes 1 to 8. With these recordings completed, Takako Nishizaki has ensured that her legacy, and that of her father, Shinji Nishizaki, and Dr Shinichi Suzuki, will live on forever, as new generations of aspiring violinists and violin teachers, continue to choose the Suzuki Method as their method of choice. |