©Laura Stevens

庄司紗矢香 Sayaka Shoji

庄司紗矢香以其獨樹一幟的藝術風格及對演奏曲目的細膩詮釋享譽國際樂壇。融合日本與歐洲文化背景，使她對不同音樂語彙展現出深刻且獨到的理解。庄司紗矢香出生於日本東京，三歲時隨家人移居義大利錫耶納，先後就讀於奇吉亞納音樂學院（Accademia Musicale Chigiana）及科隆音樂與舞蹈學院（Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln）。十四歲時，她在魯道夫．鮑姆加特納（Rudolf Baumgartner）指揮下，與琉森音樂節弦樂團（Lucerne Festival Strings）於琉森音樂節首次登上歐洲舞臺，其後並於維也納金色大廳演出，展現非凡才華。

1999年榮獲帕格尼尼國際小提琴大賽首獎後，庄司紗矢香獲得多位世界級指揮家的賞識與支持，包括祖賓．梅塔（Zubin Mehta）、洛林．馬捷爾（Lorin Maazel）、謝苗．畢契科夫（Semyon Bychkov）、馬里斯．楊頌斯（Mariss Jansons）、尤里．特米爾卡諾夫（Yuri Temirkanov）及艾薩–佩卡．薩洛寧（Esa-Pekka Salonen）等。她亦曾與眾多世界頂尖樂團合作，包括柏林愛樂管弦樂團、維也納交響樂團、洛杉磯愛樂、紐約愛樂、倫敦交響樂團、愛樂管弦樂團（Philharmonia Orchestra）、BBC交響樂團、馬林斯基劇院管弦樂團、NHK交響樂團及捷克愛樂管弦樂團等。

2025/26樂季的重要演出包括與拉哈夫．沙尼（Lahav Shani）指揮的以色列愛樂管弦樂團、鈴木雅明指揮的新加坡交響樂團以及薩爾茲堡室內樂團（Camerata Salzburg）合作演出。上一樂季，她則與舊金山交響樂團、法蘭克福廣播交響樂團（hr-Sinfonieorchester）、克里夫蘭管弦樂團、鹿特丹愛樂管弦樂團及聖切契利亞國家學院管弦樂團（Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia）合作。此外，她亦受邀參與釜山音樂廳開幕音樂會，與鋼琴家暨指揮鄭明勳及大提琴家王健同臺演出。

身為活躍的室內樂演奏家，除了與鋼琴家Gianluca Cascioli長達十五年的合作之外，她亦與莫迪里亞尼四重奏（Modigliani Quartet）、Benjamin Grosvenor、Beatrice Rana、Kian Soltani、Steven Isserlis、Stephen Kovacevich及Víkingur Ólafsson等音樂家保持長期合作關係。她亦經常於巴黎愛樂廳（Philharmonie de Paris）、威格摩爾音樂廳（Wigmore Hall）、三得利音樂廳及漢堡萊斯音樂廳（Laeiszhalle）等國際知名場館舉辦獨奏會。

除了演奏活動之外，庄司紗矢香於2007年創立實驗性視覺與音樂跨界計畫**《Synesthesia》，並投入油畫及錄像藝術創作。她與P. Frament合作完成的首部錄像作品《Shostakovich Prelude》於2014年入選法國展覽《Au-delà de mes rêves》，與草間彌生、Sophie Calle及Robert Longo等國際知名藝術家共同展出。她亦曾多次與建築師安藤忠雄、攝影藝術家杉本博司及編舞家勅使川原三郎合作跨領域藝術計畫。

身為錄音藝術家，庄司紗矢香於德意志留聲機發行十一張專輯，其中包括與尤里．特米爾卡諾夫指揮聖彼得堡愛樂管弦樂團合作錄製的普羅高菲夫、西貝流士及貝多芬小提琴協奏曲錄音。早期錄音作品則包括與鋼琴家Menahem Pressler合作的獨奏專輯。2025年2月，她與Gianluca Cascioli於ARCANA廠牌推出第二張莫札特作品專輯，延續先前錄製的貝多芬小提琴與鋼琴奏鳴曲全集之後，再次獲得樂界高度肯定。

庄司紗矢香於2016年榮獲日本最具聲望的藝術獎項之一每日藝術獎（Mainichi Art Award），表彰其對藝術文化的重要貢獻。2012年，《Nikkei Business》將她選為「影響日本未來的一百人」之一。2025年，她再獲頒第三十七屆 Music Pen Club 音樂獎（獨奏家類），再次肯定其傑出的藝術成就。

庄司紗矢香目前使用的小提琴為約1729年製的史特拉底瓦里名琴「Recamier」，由Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.慷慨提供借用。

Sayaka Shoji has become internationally recognised for her unique artistic versatility and detailed approach to her chosen repertoire. Her remarkable insight into musical languages comes from her mix of European and Japanese backgrounds. Shoji was born in Tokyo and she moved to Siena, Italy when she was three. She studied at Accademia Musicale Chigiana and Cologne’s Musikhochschule, making her European debut with Lucerne Festival Strings under Rudolf Baumgartner at Lucerne Festival, then at Musikverein, Vienna at the age of fourteen. 

Since winning first prize at the Paganini Competition in 1999, Sayaka Shoji has been supported by leading conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Semyon Bychkov, Mariss Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. She has also worked with renowned orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Mariinsky Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic, among others.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include her concerts with Israel Philharmonic with Lahav Shani, Sinagpore Symphony with Masaaki Suzuki, and Camerata Salzburg. Last season saw her performances with San Francisco Symphony, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.  She also performed for the opening concert of the new Busan Concert Hall, alongside pianist/conductor Myung-whun Chung and cellist Jian Wang.

As an active chamber musician, in addition to 15 years of collaboration with Gianluca Cascioli, she has a long-standing collaboration with many artists including Modigliani Quartet, Benjamin Grosvenor, Beatrice Rana, Kian Soltani, Steven Isserlis, Stephen Kovacevich, and Víkingur Ólafsson. Shoji regularly appears in recital in venues such as Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, and Hamburg Laeiszhalle.

In addition to her concert activities, Shoji launched an experimental visual-music project, Synesthesia, in 2007, and has also created oil paintings and video art. Her first video work (Shostakovich Prelude collaboration with P.Frament) was chosen in a group exposition ​Au-delà de mes rêves in 2014 among the most renown artists such as Y.Kusama, S.Calle and R.Longo. Shoji has also collaborated with Tadao Ando, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Saburo Teshigawara on numerous occasions.

As a prolific recording artist, Shoji has released eleven albums on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring violin concertos by Prokofiev, Sibelius, and Beethoven with St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov. Her earlier recordings include a recital album with pianist Menahem Presseler. In February 2025, she released a second volume of a Mozart album from ARCANA with Gianluca Casiocli, following her previous album of complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin.

Shoji won the Mainichi Art Award in 2016, one of Japan’s most prestigious awards, presented to those who have had a significant influence on the arts. In 2012, Nikkei Business named her one of the 100 Most Influential People for Japan in the Future. In 2025, she was awarded the 37th Music Pen Club Music Award (Solo Artist category).

Sayaka Shoji plays a Stradivarius ​‘Recamier’ c.1729 kindly loaned to her by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.