Yoshika Masuda

Described by the press as ‘a remarkable cellist... one of the finest cellists of his generation’ (Chopin music magazine), cellist Yoshika Masuda has performed throughout Australia, Japan, China, the US, Mexico and much of western Europe in prestigious venues such as the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Opera House in Sydney, the Opera City Hall in Tokyo and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Yoshika has won national competitions in Japan, Australia and the US and was also the recipient of the prestigious Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe String Award. His other accolades include top prizes at the Sydney Cello Award and the J&A Beare International Solo Bach Competition. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Juarez Symphony (Mexico), Milton Keynes City Orchestra, Manchester Beethoven Orchestra, Sheffield Chamber Orchestra, North Queensland Symphony, Queensland Youth Symphony, Westlake Village Symphony and the YMF Debut Orchestra with conductors such as Sian Edwards, Nicholas Milton, and Lucas Richman. His performances were broadcast on ABC Classic FM (Australia), Musiq’3 (Belgium), BBC Radio 3 (UK), Klassik Radio (Germany) and Concertzender Radio (The Netherlands).

Yoshika is an avid chamber musician and has performed with artists such as Guy Ben-Ziony, Brian Che-Yen Chen, Peter Frankl, Charmian Gadd, Bruno Giuranna, Gil Kalish, Nicholas Mann, Alissa Margulis, Paul Roczek, Roger Tapping, Don Weilerstein and Qian Zhou. As the cellist of the award-winning Rolston Quartet, he has travelled throughout Canada, Europe and the US. He is also a founding member of the cello quintet SAKURA, whose performances were described by the Los Angeles Times as ‘brilliant… superb.’ and the resident cellist for the Salastina Music Society. In past years, Yoshika was invited to perform at the festivals of Aldeburgh and Leicester in the UK, Festival Amfiteatrof in Italy, Kirishima Music Festival in Japan, and the Yellow Barn Music Festival, Music Mountain Chamber Festival, and Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in the USA.

A keen advocate of contemporary music, Yoshika has given the world and US premieres of works by Toshio Hosokawa, Bent Sørensen, Nick Strimple, and Jörg Widmann. He also performed the Italian composer Michele Dall’Ongaro’s ‘Linea Nigra’ for cello and orchestra with the World Youth Orchestra on their tour of Italy.

Born in Kobe, Japan, Yoshika first started playing the cello at the age of five but moved to Australia as a young child where he began his studies with Georg Pedersen at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He then studied extensively with Hannah Roberts and Ralph Kirshbaum, whilst also receiving close musical guidance from Thomas Demenga and David Geringas. Yoshika graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK with distinction and received the Principal’s Prize along with the Leonard Rose Cello Award for outstanding achievement. He gained his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the USC Thornton School of Music. Yoshika currently resides in Los Angeles and is the Assistant Professor of Cello and Director of String Studies at California Lutheran University.