Hiroki Kasai

The young Japanese violist Hiroki Kasai was born in London, United Kingdom, in 1999. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in the violin class of Rodney Friend with first-class honor. In 2022, he began playing the viola following a strong recommendation from Nobuko Imai and recently graduated from the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. Her Majesty Queen Sofía handed the Diploma to the most outstanding student of the department in the 2024-2025 academic year to Hiroki Kasai.

In 2024, Hiroki won the first prize of the 30th International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria. Additionally in 2025, he won both the second prize and audience prize of the 6th Tokyo International Viola Competition. He also received an award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.

On the viola, Hiroki Kasai has performed extensively across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States, appearing at prominent music festivals such as Beethovenfest Bonn, Marlboro, Pablo Casals, Schiermonnikoog, Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier and Gstaad Menuhin.

As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. A passionate chamber musician, Hiroki Kasai has played with Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, Lawrence Power, Thomas Riebl, Sayaka Shoji, Ivan Monighetti, and has attended the Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music and the Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland.

His solo performances have been broadcast by several radio stations, including NHK (Japan), RNE (Spain), RTS (Switzerland), NDR (Germany), and NPR (US). Starting from December 2025, Hiroki Kasai is a part of the prestigious Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Academy in Munich.