BIOGRAPHY

Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Mai Suzuki graduated from the Music High School attached to Tokyo University of the Arts and the University itself. She continued her studies in Lausanne, Salzburg and Munich, earning diplomas including Germany’s highest concert qualification.

She plays a 1682 Nicolò Amati “Grand Amati”, a historic instrument on loan via Atsumari.

Since her student years, Suzuki has appeared in recitals and as an orchestral soloist in Japan and abroad. Her career is centred in Japan, while she continues to perform regularly in Europe, including annual concerts in Germany; she also has a base in Hong Kong. She has been invited as a recitalist and orchestral soloist across Europe, Central and East Asia and South America, performing at venues including Suntory Hall, the Santa Ursula Auditorium in Lima and the Herkulessaal in Munich.

Her distinctions include the 2005 Grand Prix at the Osaka International Music Competition; second prize at the 2006 Music Competition of Japan while still in high school; youngest semifinalist at the 2007 Tchaikovsky International Competition; finalist at the 2011 Henri Marteau International Violin Competition; first prize and the orchestra prize at the 2013 Václav Huml International Violin Competition; first prize at the 2013 Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition; second prize at the 2016 Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition; and second prize at the 2018 COOP Music Awards chamber-music competition.

She has appeared under conductors including Nicolas Milton, Jorma Panula, Ivan Repušić, Philippe Béran, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Masahiko Enkoji, Norichika Iimori and Sung-hyung Kim. Orchestral partners include the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo City Philharmonic, Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic, Hofer Symphoniker, Croatian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Zagreb Soloists.

Her chamber-music work includes recital series with pianists Kaoru Jitsukawa and Naruhiko Kawaguchi, and performances with Kian Soltani, Tomoki Sakata and Mami Hagiwara. She also collaborates with Japanese traditional artists, including the Goyokai dance ensemble, Onoe-school artist Kikuho Onoe, kokyū player Suishū Takahashi and koto player Toshiko Yonekawa.

Suzuki has performed at the Imperial Palace’s Tōkagakudō Hall and was selected as a CHANEL Pygmalion Days Artist. She has taken part in official cultural events presented by Japanese diplomatic missions in Germany and Chile and by the Swiss and Israeli embassies in Japan. Her international cultural-exchange work includes Expo 2005 Aichi; at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, she performed at the Chile Pavilion and Festival Station. She also serves as a juror for competitions including the Japan Performers Competition and Japan Classical Music Competition.

Her recording of the third movement of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra appeared on Nikkei Music Selection’s Morning in Classics. Her King Records debut album Mai Favorite was followed in 2025 by Les ailes, recorded with pianist Akimi Fukuhara as DUO Les Ailes.

She was selected for Japan’s Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists (2012–13), a Rohm Music Foundation scholarship (2015–16) and Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Munich (2017–19). She is a registered artist of the Public Hall Music Activation Project for 2025–26.

Media appearances include NHK television’s Tsunagaru TV @ Human, ABC’s Fresh Concert and Geinōjin Kakuzuke Check, NHK-FM’s Recital Passio, OTTAVA’s Radio Bravo — Aria from TENNOZ TMMT Studio, JFN’s Memories & Discoveries and TV Tokyo’s Saturday Meibaza.

Her teachers include Mionori Yamashita, Ami Watanabe, Nobu Wakabayashi, Takashi Shimizu, Pierre Amoyal and Ingolf Turban.