Akiko Okawa
violinist & violist
performing early to contemporary music
Born in Tokyo, Japan. Akiko is Belgium-based violinist and violist working in early to contemporary music. She also specializes in historically informed performance with period instruments from renaissance to early romantic repertoire.Since 2015, she has joined the Jeune Orchestre de l’Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes in France, and has played under the direction of numerous conductors and soloists such as Amandine Beyer, William Christie, Laurence Equilbey, Philippe Herreweghe, Marc Minkowski and Hervé Niquet. She is an academist in the Collegium Vocale Gent as a viola player since 2020.In the contemporary music scene, she is an active musician playing with several ensembles as the Erämaa Trio, the Ensemble 21 and the Ensemble Hopper. In 2018, she has worked with the ICTUS Ensemble as an extra violinist for the creation of opera “Der verschwundene Hochzeiter” by Klaus Lang. She participated in the 11th Impuls International Academy for Contemporary Music in Graz and performed under the direction of Lars Mlekusch and Peter Rundel. Always passionate about playing the new composition for solo and chamber music ensemble, working and creating with composers their own pieces to perform in a world premiere.She is one of the founding members of the Erämaa Trio (specialized in 20th century and contemporary music for violin / viola, clarinets and piano / electronics) who won the first prize in the Léopold Bellan International Competition (Paris, France) in 2017. She studied Violin with Reiko Kusano, Shizuko Ishii, Vincent Hepp and Véronique Bogaerts, Baroque Violin with Alessandro Moccia and Joanna Huszcza, Viola with Nobuo Okada and Paul De Clerck.Erämaa Trio
Contemporary Music Ensemble & Performers
violin / viola, clarinets, piano / electronics
What is « Erämaa Trio » ? Trio is quite obvious, as the band is composed with three musicians. But what about the other word ?In Finnish, Erämaa is the desert, a wasteland, a virgin ground, far from Human influence. Therefore, it evokes new grounds to explore and reveal to mankind.The musicians of the Eramäa Trio lead you to a trip along 20th and 21th centuries music. Let’s (re)discover Stravinsky, Bartok, Gilbert Amy, or even Yann Robin._______________________________________________________________________________________The Erämaa Trio was founded in 2016 by three musicians who graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Hogeschool Gent in contemporary music, with the ensembles Ictus and Spectra, and in historically informed performance.Our trio also works with other musicians, and Erämaa Trio morphs into Erämaa Ensemble developing a repertoire with voice and other instruments as well as live electronic / live video repertoire. This ensemble is resolutely oriented towards the music of the 20th and 21st centuries and try to include the different styles that this music comprises in order to give the public a view as wide as possible on the diversity of today’s music.In November 2017, the Erämaa Trio won first prize at the Léopold Bellan international competition in France and is recognised by Art&Vie.
Erämaa performs regularly at festivals and venues such as the LOOP Festival, the Belgian Music Days, the Royal Academy of Belgium, the Royal Conservatory of Brussels,…. and frequently plays in Belgium, France and Japan.Musiciens
Akiko Okawa - Violin & Viola
Cédric De Bruycker - Clarinets
Quentin Meurisse - Piano & Electronics
Erämaa Trio:
Repertoire
Solo & Ensemble works
[Solo]
Luciano Berio : Sequenza VIII for violin solo (1976)Krzysztof Penderecki : Cadenza (version for solo violin, 1933)Jean-Marie Rens : Missy Vaëliz for viola solo (2017)
[Duo]
György Kurtág : Kafka-Fragmente Op. 24 (1985-1987) - soprano & violinAlessandro Milia : Per Franco Oppo logodia (2015) - violin & piano
Salvatore Sciarrino : La Malinconia (1980) - violin & viola
Toru Takemitsu : Hika (1966) - violin & piano
[Trio with Erämaa]
Gilbert Amy : En trio (1985)
Nicolas Bacri : Trois moments retrouvés (2014/2018)
Béla Bartók : Contrasts Op. BB116 (1938)
Alban Berg : Adagio (1924/1925)
Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola & piano, Op. 83 (1910)
Sebastian Currier : Verge (1997)
Jean-Pierre Deleuze : Ellipsen (1988)Luca Francesconi : Impulse II (1985)
Arturo Fuentes : Zeitlos (2014) - bass clarinet, piano & viola
György Kurtág : Hommage à R. Schumann Op. 15d (1992) - clarinet (also bass drum), viola & piano
Michel Lysight : Runes (2014)
Paul-Baudouin Michel : TOREUTIQUE I, Op. 40 (1969)
Darius Milhaud : Suite en trio op.157b (1936)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : « Kegelstatt-Trio » E-flat major K. 498 (1786) - clarinet, viola & piano
Yann Robin : Fterà (2014) - bass clarinet, viola & piano
Rebecca Saunders : The under-side of green (1994)
Robert Schumann : Märchenerzählungen Op. 132 - clarinet, viola & piano (1853)
Shahriar Sharifpour : Trio pour clarinette, violon et piano (2017)
Igor Stravinsky : Histoire du soldat (1919)
Bram Van Camp : Music for 3 instruments (2010)
[String quartet]Gavin Bryars : String Quartet No. 1 "Between The National And The Bristol" (1985)Olivier Penard : Polyptyque dit «du diamant» (quatuor à cordes n°1) Op. 28 (2011)
Marcel Quinet : Quatuor à corde Op. 36 (1958)
Anton Webern : 6 Bagatellen für Streichquartett Op. 9 (1913)
[Other formations]Malcolm Arnold : Trio for Flute, Viola & Bassoon (1943)
Pierre Bartholomée : Berceuse pour Harry (2017) - violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet & piano (4 hands)Jean-Luc Fafchamps : Lettre soufie « D(hâl) » (2002) - clarinet (& bass clarinet), percussion, piano & string trioFrancesco Filidei : Ballata No.2 for ensemble (2011) - fl, cl, fg, crn, trp, trb, pf, 2 vl, vla, vc, cbLuca Francesconi : A fuoco (1995) - guitar and ensemble, fl (also fl.b.), cl (also cl.b.), perc, pf, vl, vcMagnus Lindberg : Clarinet Quintet (1992) - clarinet & string quartetBruno Mantovani : Troisième Round (2001) - Saxophone and ensembleOlivier Messiaen : Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1940) - violin, clarinet, cello & pianoMisato Mochizuki : «All that is including me» (1996) - bass flute, clarinet & violin
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : « Stadler Quintet » A major K. 581 (1789 ) - clarinet, two violins, viola & celloFausto Romitelli : Professor Bad Trip - Lesson I, for eight instruments and electronics (1998), Lesson II, for ten instruments (1999), Lesson III, for ten instruments (2000)Jörg Widmann : 7 Abgesänge auf eine tote Linde (1997) - soprano, violin, clarinet & piano[Works with Live electronics or/and Video]
Jean-Pierre Deleuze : Sonances de l’an levant (2014) - violin & live electronics
Stéphane Orlando : Simply Human + Black Panthers (2017/2018) - violin, clarinet, cello & piano
___And more___Agenda
Upcoming concerts
- Sunday 05.05.2019 - 15:00 : Ensemble Kanadé, Den Beulebak / Sint-Nicolaasplaats 10, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
- Wednesday 08.05.2019 - 21:00 : Express Quartet, Café Central / Borgval 14, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
- Thursday 30.05.2019 - 19:00 : Erämaa Trio, Joseph Jongen auditorium / Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium- Saturday 29.06.2019 : Erämaa Trio, Furies / 15 Rue de Fagnières, 51000 Châlons-en-Champagne, France
- Thursday 01.08.2019 - 19:00 : Erämaa Trio, Workshop concert with Noriko Yakushiji, Koen-dori Classics / 19-5 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0042, Japan
- Friday 02.08.2019 - 18:30 : Erämaa Trio & Noriko Yakushiji, Gallery Concert collaborating with the exposition of Haruna Ichihashi, Art space & Handicraft Gallery Tsomoriri Bunko / 1-25-4 Sengawachô, Chofu-shi, Tokyo, 182-0002, Japan
- Saturday 03.08.2019 - 19:30 : Erämaa Trio, Joint concert with Noriko Yakushiji, Suginami Public Hall / 1-23-15 Kamiogi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo, 167-0043, Japan
___More Information Coming Soon___
Past concerts
- 22.07.2016 : Erämaa Trio, Télécom Sud Paris, Évry, France
- 27.12.2016 : «Zenith & Nadir» Erämaa Trio & Noriko Yakushiji, Piano B-Art, Brussels, Belgium
- 19.01.2017 : Erämaa Trio, Art Base, Brussels, Belgium
- 24.03.2017 : Erämaa Trio, Piano B-Art, Brussels, Belgium
- 10.05.2017 : Erämaa Trio, Recital at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium- 27.07.2017 : Erämaa Trio, Télécom Sud Paris, Évry, France
- 02.11.2017 : Erämaa Trio & Noriko Yakushiji, Art Base, Brussels, Belgium
- 01.12.2017 : Erämaa Trio, Festival LOOP 10, Brussels, Belgium
- 30.01.2018 : Erämaa Trio, Maison des musique, Brussels, Belgium
- 06.02.2018 : Erämaa Trio, "Classique Ici !" Maison des Cultures et de la Cohésion Sociale de Molenbeek, Brussels, Belgium
- 02.03.2018 : Erämaa Trio, Belgian Music Days, Leuven, Belgium
- 04.03.2018 : Erämaa Trio, Château du Karreveld, Brussels, Belgium
- 17.04.2018 : «Lettres soufies et composition contemporaine» La Vénerie, Centre culturel de Watermael-Boitsfort, Brussels, Belgium
- 03.05.2018 : Erämaa Trio, Recital at the Académie Royale de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium- 21.09.2018 : Ensemble 21, SMOG, Brussels, Belgium
- 11.10.2018 : Ensemble 21, Cinéconcert, Arsonic - Mars, Mons, Belgium
- 18.10.2018 : Ensemble 21, CONCERT² / COMPOSITION, Auditorium d’ARTS² - Conservatoire royal de Mons, Belgium
- 20.10.2018 : Ensemble 21, CONCERT² / COMPOSITION, Auditorium du CRR de Lille, France
- 27.11.2018 : Erämaa Trio, "Classique Ici !" Maison des Cultures et de la Cohésion Sociale de Molenbeek, Brussels, Belgium
- 09.03.2019 : Jeune Orchestre de l’Abbaye, l’Abbaye de Fontevraud, France
- 10.03.2019 : Jeune Orchestre de l’Abbaye, Théâtre de Chatellerault, France
- 11.03.2019 : Jeune Orchestre de l’Abbaye, l’Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes, Saintes, France- 07.04.2019 : Express Quartet, Art Base, Brussels, Belgium
