The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded 40 years ago. Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, soon after its formation, the quartet won First Prize at the Coleman and Munich Competitions and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. It has since released more than 40 landmark recordings, and now records on the Harmonia Mundi label. The ensemble performs on the "Paganini Quartet", a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, on loan to the ensemble from the Nippon Music Foundation.

Martin Beaver
violin

Martin Beaver joined the ensemble in 2002. A prominent chamber musician, he was a founding member of two Canadian ensembles: the Toronto String Quartet and Triskelion. As a soloist, Mr. Beaver has appeared with the San Francisco Symphony, and Indianapolis and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. He was a top prize-winner at the international violin competitions in Indianapolis and Montreal, and won a silver medal at the Queen Elisabeth Competition.

Kikuei Ikeda
violin

Kikuei Ikeda was born in Yokosuka and studied violin at the Toho Academy of Music and the Juilliard School with Saburo Sumi, Josef Gingold and Dorothy Delay. He has performed as soloist with the Yomiuri Symphony and the Tokyo Metropolitan and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Ikeda was a prizewinner in the Mainichi, NHK and Haken competitions in Japan, and the Washington International Competition for Strings.

Kazuhide Isomura
viola

Kazuhide Isomura studied at the Toho Academy with Jeanne Isnard, Kenji Kobayashi and Hideo Saito. Upon his arrival in this country, he became Assistant Concertmaster of the Nashville Symphony, but his love for chamber music and the violin led him to The Juilliard School, where he studied violin with Ivan Galamian and Paul Makanowitsky, chamber music with Robert Mann and Raphael Hillyer, and viola with Walter Trampler. Mr. Isomura is a founding member of the Tokyo String Quartet.

Clive Greensmith
cello

Clive Greensmith joined the quartet in June 1999. A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and the Musikhochschule in Cologne, his principal teachers were Donald McCall and Boris Pergamenschikow. He has held the position of principal cellist of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, he has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic and the RAI Orchestra of Rome.