Moné Hattori

Winner of five international violin competitions and widely heralded as “the crowing masterpiece of Zakhar Bron’s talent academy” – with playing described as “utter perfection, emotionally touching and passionate”, and “enthusing with radiance, musicality, and perfect technique” (Berner Zeitung) – Moné Hattori is fast emerging as one of the finest violinists of her generation.  At the age of ten she became the youngest ever winner of the Lipinski/Wieniawski Competition (2009), and has gone on to take the Grand Prix at major competitions throughout Europe and Asia.

Hattori works regularly in Japan, performing at the most important concert venues and touring with major orchestras including the New Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.  Outside of Japan her career is growing rapidly – she is working with leading orchestras, appearing at major international festivals, and working in chamber music collaborations with such esteemed musicians as cellist Natalia Gutman, violinist Vadim Repin, and pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii.

Recent performance highlights include a European tour with the European Union Youth Orchestra & Vladimir Ashkenazy, performances with the Novosibirsk Philharmonic & Vadim Repin and the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia & Sergey Smbatyan, and tours of Japan with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and Japan Century Symphony Orchestra.  During the 2017/2018 concert season, Hattori gave a major concert with the Hyogo PAC Orchestra & Yutaka Sado (to an audience of 14,000 in Tokyo, and televised nationwide in Japan), and made her Scandinavian debut in recital at the Oslo Opera House.  Forthcoming highlights include tours of Japan (NHK Symphony), Israel (Israel Camerata), and Germany (Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra).  Moné Hattori will also make her Berlin debut with Rundfunk-Symphonieorchester Berlin & Chief Conductor Vladimir Jurowski.

Born in Tokyo in 1999, Hattori grew up within a family of musicians, with three generations of successful composers on her father’s side.  In 2004, aged five, she took her first violin lessons with her mother.  Following further studies in Japan with Aguri Suzuki, Yasuko Ohtani, and Akiko Tatsumi, at six years old she enrolled in The Music School for Children of the Toho Gakuen School of Music, and made her concerto debut with orchestra at the age of eight.  Hattori is now in her first year of the Tokyo College of Music, and has been enrolled in Zakhar Bron’s prestigious Academy in Interlaken, Switzerland, since she was eight years old.

At the age of ten, Hattori became the youngest ever winner of the 11th International Competition for Young Violinists in Honour of Karol Lipinski & Henryk Wieniawski, Poland (2009), also taking First Prize at the All Japan Art Association Competition that same year.  She went on to win the Grand Prix and various special prizes at the 9th International Competition ‘Young Virtuosos’, Bulgaria (2013), and the 7th International Competition for Young Violinists (Senior Division), Novosibirsk (2013) – again the youngest ever violinist to hold such a title, winning the ‘17 years and over’ category at the age of just 13.  Most recently, Hattori won the Grand Prix at the inaugural International Boris Goldstein Violin Competition in Bern, Switzerland (2015).

Hattori’s debut recording – featuring Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1, with the DSO Berlin and conductor Alan Buribayev – was released in Japan in October 2016 by Avex Classics International, Ltd., and met with great critical acclaim: “I was reminded of the debut of Hilary Hahn…” (Stereo Magazine).

Moné Hattori plays a violin by Pietro Guarneri of Venice (1743) on loan from Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry, Ltd.