Kazuhiro Takagi was born in Osaka, Japan, and began to study the violin at the age of 6.
While in junior high school and high school, he won several local and regional competitions.
Following his graduation from Kitano Prefectural High School in Osaka, he entered the
Deuxieme Academie de Musique Francaise de Kyoto where he was a pupil of Pierre Dukan.
He was later admitted to the Conservatoire National Superieur in Lyon, France, and studied
under Yuko Mori and Eduard Wulfson. After graduating from the Violin Department of the
Conservatoire, he studied with Eduard Schmieder at Southern Methodist University.
Since September 2000 he has been a student of Yuko Mori at the Chicago College of
Performing Arts.
Mr. Takagi has performed widely as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player in
Japan, and has given concerts in the United States and Europe as well. He has been invited
world-widely and regularly in festivals such as Oulunsalo Music Festival in Finland, Izumi
Summer Music Festival in Japan and etc.
He has won prizes in the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition (6th prize) ,54th
Geneva International Music Competition (3rd prize) , Aoyama Music Award (1997), Osaka
Cultural Grand Award and Award of the Best Young Artist of the Year from the Cultural
Minister of Japan (2005) . As first violinist of the Eusia String Quartet, he received first
prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in May 2001.
He also plays regularly as the guest concertmaster in many orchestras in Japan such as the
Osaka Philharmony Orchestra, Osaka Symfoniker Orchestra, Hyogo Performing Arts
Center Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and etc. He shows also his variety of his
activity in club music as the violinist of A HUNDRED BIRDS lead by DJ YOKU and
released many CDs. As the member of Eusia String Quartet, he has made concert tours in
United States regularly.
He served as the concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for the 2001-2002 season
and the 1st concertmaster of Wuerttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany from
November 2002 to February 2006.
He is currently the Special Guest Concertmaster of Yamagata Symphony Orchestra,
Principal Guest Concertmaster of Osaka Century Orchestra and a member of the
Nagaoka-kyo Chamber Ensemble and Izumi Sinfonietta in Osaka.
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