Seiji Yokokawa

Yuka Asahara was born in Tokyo. Yokokawa studied clarinet under Toshio Asai, Takaoki Hosono, Jacques Lancelot, Ulysse Delécluse, Walter Boeykens, and Guy Deplus, and chamber music under Reine Flachot and Pierre Pierlot. In 1968, he moved to France, where he graduated from both the Conservatory de Rouen and the Paris Conservatory with First Prize diplomas, and began performing throughout France. After returning to Japan, he was appointed Principal Instrumentalist of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1986 he became Principal Instrumentalist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Yokokawa has performed with Yuzo Toyama, Tadaaki Otaka, Otmar Switner, Herbert Blomstedt, Jean Fournet, Philippe Entremont, Andrey Boreyko, and many other conductors in major orchestras around Japan, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra's N Hibiki Series concerts. He has also expanded his activities overseas, having been invited to perform with orchestras such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the KBS Symphony Orchestra. In the field of chamber music, Yokokawa was invited to perform at the Casals Festival in Prado, France in 1998, and he has performed at numerous festivals and concerts in Japan and abroad with Henriette Puig-Roger, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yo-Yo Ma, Régis Pasquier, and other renowned soloists. In 2001, he released a collection of Brahms' clarinet sonatas with renowned clarinetist Alfred Prinz at the piano, through BMG Funhouse, and it was chosen for the special selection by Record Geijutsu magazine. The recital he held at the same time also became a hot topic. Since 2002, Yokokawa has been the music director of the Karuizawa International Music Festival. In 2010 he retired from the NHK Symphony Orchestra, as he had reached retirement age, and in 2012 he released "French Summer" with pianist Ichiro Nohira through King Records.

Yokokawa has served as a judge at the Toulon International Music Competition, France (1991 & 1997), the Geneva International Music Competition (1997), the Henri Dutilleux International Composition Competition (2004), and the Carl Nielsen International Competition (2005). In addition to providing guidance to the next generation of musicians by giving master classes in Japan and abroad, in recent years he has also been active as a conductor. Yokokawa received the 2nd Global Music Encouragement Award in 1988, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Arima Prize in 2009. He is also the author of Un Miroir Cassé and Les Gammes et les Doigtés (Leduc). Yokokawa is a former Guest Professor at the Kunitachi College of Music, the Principal of the Toto Conservatory of Music, an exclusive tester for Buffet Crampon Japan and D'Addario Woodwinds, a trustee of the Narashino Cultural Hall, and the Artistic Director of the Narashino Sinfonietta, Chiba.