As of September 2014, they will bring their expertise to the students of the Early Music Department in the form of individual lessons, coachings and masterclasses.
‘We are very proud to have two such distinguished artists as Sayuri and Shunske join the CvA,’ says Sven Arne Tepl, Associate Director of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. ‘These illustrious specialists will be an asset to our international teaching staff at the Early Music Department.’

Sayuri Yamagata studied at the Tohu-Gakuen School of Music in Tokio. In 1984 she came to the Netherlands to study Baroque violin with Lucy van Dael at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Since 2005 she has been (acting) concertmaster with the Netherlands Bach Society. She has been a member of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, conducted by Frans Brüggen, since 1985 and of various chamber music ensembles. She has worked with artists such as Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt, Bob van Asperen, Anner Bijlsma and others.

Shunske Sato (Tokyo in 1984) actively concertizes on both modern and baroque violin, and is one of the most acclaimed and versatile musicians of his generation. He studied at the Juilliard School of New York and pursued his modern violin studies with Gérard Poulet in Paris, and his baroque violin studies under Mary Utiger at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. As a baroque violinist, Shunske servers as concertmaster of both Concerto Köln and the Netherlands Bach Society, and has appeared as soloist with the Orchestra Libera Classica in Japan, Berliner Lautten Compagney, and in 2011 gave the first performance in recent times of Paganini’s second violin concerto on historical instruments with the Academy of Ancient Music. Chamber music plays a regular role in Shunske’s activities, with partners such as Christine Schornsheim, Hidemi Suzuki and Richard Egarr.On the modern violin, Shunske has appeared as soloist with all the major orchestras in Japan, as well as with leading European and American orchestras.