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.