Bio

About Aya

Born in Kobe, Japan, Aya Kiyonaga is an internationally active violinist, with performances across Europe, America, and Japan.

Aya has been featured in renowned music festivals, including the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Bartok Festival, Viola Space, Noon to Midnight, and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. As part of the Northern London Festival, she gave her London debut recital at the Bishopsgate Institute in 2008. In recent years, Aya was invited by the Naples Conservatory of Music in Italy for her duo recital and collaborated with world-renowned artist Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic for a dynamic live art performance in Los Angeles. In 2022, Aya premiered "Lost in______III" for solo violin, a dedicated work by Hinako Takagi, the winner of the Geneve International Competition.

As a soloist, Aya has performed with major symphony orchestras in Japan and beyond, including the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, PAC Orchestra, Kobe City Chamber Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali, and Dana Point Symphony. Her solo recitals have taken her from London and Brussels to Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Sapporo, as well as to Los Angeles and Orange County. Highlights of her solo recitals include appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, NHK Concert Hall, and Kyoto Concert Hall. Her recitals at the NHK Hall were broadcast on the NHK FM radio recital series.

 Aya’s artistry has been recognized with numerous national and international awards, including the 17th Kyoto Art Festival Award, the Grand Prize of the 10th Matsukata Music Award, First Prize and Audience Prize at the J&A Beare Solo Bach Competition in 2008, the 23rd Aoyama Music Award, and Second Prize in the 74th Japan Music Competition.

Supported by the Rohm Music Foundation, Aya pursued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with György Pauk. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Soai University and a Master of Arts degree from Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai), where she studied with Natsumi Tamai and graduated at the top of her class. Aya moved to the US in the summer of 2015 as the Artist Scholar of the Culture of Japan Government and the Japan-United States Friendship Commission. She graduated with a Graduate Certificate Degree from the USC Thornton School of Music under the guidance of Midori Goto. Throughout her studies, she received support from the Meiji-Yasuda Foundation, Nomura Foundation, and the William W. Kerh Endowed Memorial Scholarship.

In addition to her performing career, Aya has dedicated herself to teaching in both the US and Japan and has been often invited to serve on the juries for major competitions in Japan. Aya joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in the summer of 2023.