She is one of the outstanding violinists of her generation. She won First Prize at the 2017 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, with critics praising her passionate performance and describing her as “a new star in the musical firmament.” In 2018 she won First Prize at the German Music Competition in Bonn and was a laureate of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. In 2019 she became a prize winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. She is also the winner of the J. Brahms International Competition (2013) and laureate of the ”Fritz Kreisler” International Violin Competition Vienna (2014)

In October 2020, at the age of 27 she has been appointed violin professor at the renowned University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

Ms. Goicea has performed at renowned venues in Europe, Asia, America, New Zealand and Australia, among them the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, St Martin-in-the-Fields London, the Melbourne Recital Centre, Wiener Konzerthaus, Bozar Brussels, Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg, the Queen Elisabeth Hall Antwerp, the Shanghai Concert Hall, the Athenaeum Bucharest, the Townhall Auckland, the Slovak Philharmonic Bratislava, Konzerthaus Freiburg.

She has performed as a soloist with the Belgian National Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Staatskapelle Halle, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Indianapolis Symphony, the George Enescu Philharmonic Bucharest, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra Bucharest, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic.

In addition to her career as a soloist, the young violinist is also an avid chamber musician. She performed at renowned chamber music festivals and academies: the Verbier Academy, Hitzacker Festival and Academy and the Heidelberger Frühling Academy.
In 2015, together with pianist Andrei Banciu, she won the Second Prize and the Young Duo Award at the International Competition “Premio Trio di Trieste” in Trieste, Italy.

Ioana Cristina Goicea was born into a family of musicians in Bucharest in 1992. She started violin under the guidance of her mother, violinist Cristina Anghelescu and her grandfather, violin pedagogue Aurelian Anghelescu.
She studied in Bucharest at the Dinu Lipatti Music Highschool with Prof. Radu Popescu and Rudolf Stamm as well as with Prof. Krzysztof Wegrzyn at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, with Prof. Mariana Sîrbu at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig and with Prof. Petru Munteanu at the University of Music and Theater in Rostock. She participated in masterclasses with Prof. Mihaela Martin, Silvia Marcovici, Pinchas Zuckerman and Saschko Gawriloff.

Over the past 10 years, Ioana Cristina was kindly supported by the German Music Instrument Fund in Hamburg (Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben)

She plays a J.B. Vuillaume violin, on loan from a generous private donour as well as a modern violin by Jürgen Manthey (Leipizig, 2021)

Born in Japan, Masako Suzuki White started playing the violin at the age of four. At nine years old, she attained an award for solo recital and since then, had continued to participate in several national competitions. She enrolled at Toho Gakuen School of Music and was under the tutelage of Ryo Kubota and Hideo Saito. White performed in a concert held at Tokyo Yamaha Hall where the then prince of Japan had attended and since then, she has been actively performing in many places. In 1996, she earned a scholarship and enrolled at the Royal College of Music. Being the most outstanding performer, she was under the mentor of Leonard Hias during her postgraduate education and at the time of graduation, she was awarded with the highest honours award, Soloist Diploma. Furthermore, she performed for Queen Elizabeth II, sponsor of the college. She had also participated in the master class where Itzhak Perlman, a renowned violinist of the 20th century, had also attended. Through the experiences gained as a soloist and chamber musician in the UK, together with members of BBC Symphony Orchestra, White actively participated and served as a leader of the Suzuki Quartet.In Singapore, she performed a violin concerto such as the " Butterfly Lovers' ". In 2002, together with Braddell Heights Orchestra, she played for Esplanade's opening ceremony where the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew was present. Currently, she does her solo and chamber music activities, together with Alexander Souptel, ex-concertmaster of Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), or with other musicians. Some of her recent notable performances include "SAVE THE NORTH POLE", which was attended by Prince Albert of Monaco, charity concert organised by the Singapore Red Cross to raise funds for the victims of 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, "Music for our children, the hope of our future - Luca Stradivari Premier Concert" a concert held at Esplanade Recital Studio, and a children concert held at Fukuoka, "A Gift from Music". On the other hand, as the principal of Virtuosi Music Centre, she has trained and nurtured young musicians. Through her more than 40 years of teaching experience, she has aided in widening her students' learning experiences by inviting world-renowned artists to hold concerts, lessons and master classes. Many of her students from Virtuosi Music Centre has participated and won the honorary prizes in various notable competitions such as the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists, The Paganini Competition and The international Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition. As such, the school has contributed to the birth of world-class musicians.

Violinist/Virtuosi Music Centre Principal

Naoto Sakiya

Born in Japan, he won 1st prize in the junior section of the  Novosibirsk International Competition, 3rd prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition(in 1998). at 15 became the youngest student to attend the College of music Cologne.

He graduated the Conservatory of Music in Basel, after he studied the Conservatoire de la Ville de Paris and the Toho Gakuen Soloist Diploma Course.

In 2006, he founded the verus string quartet. As first violinist, won 3rd Prize  in the string quartet section of the International Music competition of ARD, Osaka International Chamber Music Competition.

From 2014 until 2018 he worked as a solo concertmaster of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra.  

He studied violin with Koichiro HARADA, Zakhar Bron,Gerard Poulet, Roland Daugareil and Daniel Sepek, and string quartet with Rainer Schmidt(Hagen Quartett ) 

He is currently active with  verus string quartet and the violin unit DOS DEL FIDDLES with Yasuno Ishida, and he has performed as a guest concertmaster across  Japan.

In October 2022, he released the album 『 desined for … Bach』mainly featuring Bach’s unaccompanied works, which was selected as a special selection of Record Geijutus( December 2022 )  

Yoh Yasutomi

He graduated from a graduate program Tokyo University of the Arts. 

While a student, he passed an audition for chamber music at Tokyo University of the Arts.

He has won twice a prize winner in the All Japan Student Music Competition Violin Division.

He is active in recitals, chamber music, guest concert master, public lessons, and judging competitions.

He has taught violin, viola, orchestra, and chamber music at Shobi Music College, Tokyo College of Music, Tokyo Junshin Junior College of Music, and the The High School Attached to the Faculty of Music・of Tokyo University of the Arts.

Since 2015, he has been selected as a trainer of the string section of the Myanmar National Symphony Orchestra and also as an assistant conductor.

He studied violin under Mr.Yuji Togi, Mr.Saburo Sumi, Mr.Yoshio Unno, Mr.Takaya Urakawa, and Mr.Kiyoshi Okayama, and also studied chamber music under Mr.Koichiro Harada and Mr.Louis Graeler, and also studied conducting with Mr.Yasuhiko Shiozawa.

He has released the CDs "Sonatas for Violin and Piano" (Mozart and Beethoven sonatas) and "Furusato" (Kreisler Pieces, Japanese Songs Violin & Viola).

He is now a lecturer at Musashino Academia Musicae, a special lecturer at Toyama Institute of Music , a regular member of the Japanese String Teachers Association (JASTA), a member of the Japan Federation of Musicians, and a member of the quartet "Ma".