Sakura Nakagawa studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts with Natsumi Tamai, Dong-Suk Kang, Tsugio Tokunaga and Seiji Kageyama, receiving the Doseikai Award upon completing her studies. She is currently continuing her artistic development at the Karlsruhe Music Academy as a DAAD fellow in the class of Josef Rissin, as well as at the Accademia Stauffer under Salvatore Accardo. A laureate of numerous competitions for both violin and piano, she has been awarded a 1st Prize at the Beten Music Competition; a 1st Prize and the Governor of Osaka Prefecture Prize at the Miotsukushi Music Festival; a 1st Prize at the Shiga Piano Competition; a 2nd Prize at the Japan Student Music Competition in Osaka; a 2nd Prize (top placement) at the Japan Classical Music Competition; and a 3rd Prize at the Kyoto Piano Competition. In 2013 and 2014, she received the Shiga Prefectural Assembly Chairperson’s Award and performed at La Folle Journée in Japan. In 2018, she performed at the 32nd Kyoto Art Festival, receiving both the Audience Award and The Mainichi Newspaper Prize. Further distinctions include the Heiwado Foundation Art Encouragement Award (Music Category) in 2021 and the Grand Prize at the Shiga Prefecture Shin-Jin Concert in 2022. In 2024, she was awarded the 2nd Prize and the Bärenreiter Praha Music Publisher Prize at the 59th Beethoven Hradec International Competition, followed in 2025 by the Florian Leonhard Prize at the Engers Academy and the Brahms Prize at the Carl Flesch Academy. She has recently appeared as a soloist with the Janáčkova filharmonie Ostrava in the Czech Republic, the Jena Philharmonic and the Philharmonie Baden-Baden in Germany, among others. She joined the Luxembourg Philharmonic Academy in January 2026.
©: Sebastien Grebille
