The role of the Academy’s tutors is clearly crucial, and they must all work according to the same musical principles. Seiji Ozawa has surrounded himself with tutors who not only provide instruction to the young instrumentalists coming from all over the world,but also ensure cohesion among the students.

Robert Mann

Robert Mann trained as a violinist at New York’s Juilliard Graduate School. He specialized in chamber music and orchestral conducting, while also concentrating on composition. He has proved to be an outstanding teacher, and generations of musicians have benefited from his tuition at the Juilliard School. In 1948, he founded and played first violin in the Julliard String Quartet, a group that has become one of the world’s most prestigious chamber ensembles. In 1962, it was named as the quartet in residence at the US Library of Congress and has toured extensively around the world. Robert Mann has also performed at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and lectured at the Aspen Music School.

Nobuko Imai

After studying at the Toho School of Music
in Tokyo, Nobuko Imai moved to Yale University and from there to the Juilliard School. She is the only player to have won the top prizes at both the Munich and Geneva International Viola Competitions, and currently combines a distinguished international solo career with various teaching commitments. She has appeared as a soloist with the major orchestras (such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra), and has been a guest artist at numerous festivals. She regularly returns to Japan, where she is artistic adviser to the Casals Hall in Tokyo and a member of the management committee of the Saito Kinen Orchestra. The late Toru Takemitsu composed a viola concerto for her, which was first performed in Paris, before being played in Helsinki, Stockholm and Amsterdam, as well at the Salzburg Festival. Nobuko devotes much of her time to chamber music, which she plays with various other prominent musicians. In 1995, Nobuko Imai founded three festivals, in Tokyo, New York and London, named after Paul Hindemith. Nobuko Imai teaches at the Geneva Conservatory and also at the Tibor Varga Music Academy at the Conservatory in Sion.

Pamela Frank

As the daughter of two professional pianists, Pamela Frank was immersed in music from a very young age, beginning her violin studies at the age of five. After 11 years as a pupil of Shirley Givens, she continued her musical education with Szymon Goldberg and Jaime Laredo. She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1989. Pamela Frank has established an outstanding international reputation for herself with an unusually varied repertoire, and has made innumerable appearances as a soloist with all of the world’s great orchestras. She made her debut at a Carnegie Hall recital in 1995, and then performed a much acclaimed Beethoven sonata cycle with her father at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1997. She shares her passion for chamber music in performances with distinguished musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Tabea Zimmermann and Peter Serkin. She has made guest appearances at many major festivals, including Marlboro, Salzburg and Edinburgh. She has also taken part in many of the Isaac Stern chamber music seminars at the Carnegie Hall. In 1999, she was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest distinctions given to American instrumentalists.

Sadao Harada

As the founder of and mentor to the Tokyo String Quartet, which he also directed for 30 years, Sadao Harada has gained an international reputation and received numerous prizes for his outstanding technical mastery and the vibrancy of his performances. He began his musical studies with his father at the age of 11, before continuing them with Maestro Hideo Saito, and becoming the youngest cellist in the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. From there, he enrolled at the Juilliard School in the United States and went on to found the Tokyo String Quartet in 1969. Since 1999, he has pursued a busy career on the international stage as an acclaimed soloist, a teacher who is constantly in demand, and a renowned chamber musician. He currently teaches at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik at Trossingen in Germany.