新倉 瞳
HIOTMI NIIKURA
幼少期をアメリカとドイツで過ごし、8歳よりドイツでチェロを始める。桐朋学園女子高等学校音楽科を経て桐朋学園大学音楽学部を首席で卒業。卒業時には皇居桃華楽堂新人演奏会に出演、御前演奏を行う。その後、バーゼル音楽院ソリストコース・教職課程の両修士課程を最高点で修了。これまでにJan Vymyslicky、毛利伯郎、堤剛、Thomas Demenga、Martin Zaller（バロック・チェロ）の各氏に師事。室内楽を徳永二男、原田幸一郎の各氏に師事。
2003年いしかわミュージックアカデミーにてIMA音楽賞を受賞し、アメリカ／アスペン音楽祭に奨学生として参加。2007年第28回霧島国際音楽祭にて霧島国際音楽祭賞を受賞。2009年ルーマニア国際音楽コンクール室内楽部門にて第1位を受賞。2015年スイスのベルンで開催されたOrpheus Kammermusikwettbewerbにて入賞。同年、ポルトガルのリスボンで開催されたInternacional Verão Clássico 2015チェロ部門にて第1位を受賞。2016年5月スイス／ルツェルンの高級時計ブランド《カール F. ブヘラ》より Pathos Woman Awardを受賞。2017年第18回ホテルオークラ音楽賞受賞。 第19回（2020年度）齋藤秀雄メモリアル基金賞チェロ部門受賞。
2006年8月桐朋学園大学在学中には、EMI Music Japan（現ユニバーサル・ミュージック）より「鳥の歌」をリリースし、紀尾井ホールにてデビュー。これまでにEMI Music Japanから3枚のアルバム、Live Notesよりピアニスト佐藤卓史とのライヴCD「ブラームス＆ラフマニノフ：チェロ・ソナタ」、F.S.L.レーベルよりアコーディオニスト佐藤芳明とのDuo「魂柱と鞴」、ヴァイオリニスト原田陽が加わったTrio Baroccoでのバロック・ヴァイオリン、バロック・チェロ、アコーディオンでの「ゴルトベルク変奏曲」、アールアンフィニ・レーベルより、『11月の夜想曲～委嘱作品集』（世界初演／世界初録音）やピアニスト高橋多佳子、ヴァイオリニスト礒絵里子との「椿三重奏団」を含む5枚のアルバムが発売されている。
また、チューリッヒを拠点とする人気クレズマーバンドCheibe Balaganのメンバーとして2014年から参加し、ダボス音楽祭、サン・モリッツ音楽祭、モントルー音楽祭をはじめ様々な音楽祭に招かれ、クレズマー音楽のワークショップも積極的に行い、音楽の幅を広げている。
現在はカメラータ・チューリッヒのソロ首席チェリストとしてスイスを拠点に活躍する中、ソリスト・室内楽奏者として全国各地でリサイタル、オーケストラとの共演を重ね、司会、番組ナレーション、音楽劇、演奏家のためのドレス《M Maglie le cassetto》のプロデュース等、活動の幅を広げ音楽の素晴らしさを広く深く伝えようとする姿勢は多くの共感を集めている。使用楽器は、宗次コレクションより貸与されたMatteo Goffriller（1710年製）。
Praised by the Baseler Zeitung and Bangkok Post for her „personal and captivating style“ and „polished, powerful and refined“ performance, Hitomi Niikura pursues a successful career as a soloist who with her passion has captured the hearts of audiences across the world.
While still a student at Toho Gakuen, Niikura released her debut album „Song of the Birds“ with EMI Music Japan in 2006 and performed her debut concert at Kioi Hall in Tokyo. She has since played in concerts and recitals with various renowned orchestras in Japan and abroad, such as Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic, Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, Japan-Century Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic, Central Aichi Orchestra, and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa as well as with Chamber Orchestra Basel, and the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. She also regularly appeared on both TV and radio. After two more albums with EMI Music Japan – “Träumerei” and “Largo-Salut d’Amour” – her 4th album “Elgar Cello Concerto” was released in 2015 with Sony Music Direct. One year later the label Live Notes published her live recordings of Brahms and Rachmaninoff Cello sonatas, and in February 2017 Sony Music Direct produced her 5th full-length album “Inori – Prayer”.
In 2003 she received the IMA Music Prize from the Ishikawa Music Academy, together with a Fulbright scholarship to join the following year’s Aspen Music Festival in the United States. At the 28th Kirishima International Music Festival in 2007 she won the festival’s main prize. Two years later she was awarded the first prize in the category chamber music at the Romanian International Music Competition in Tokyo. In 2015, she was a laureate at the Orpheus Chamber Music Competition in Bern, Switzerland, and won the first prize at the Internacional Verão Clássico 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal. Luxury watch manufacturer Carl. F. Bucherer awarded her with the „Pathos Woman Award“ in May 2016. Less than a year later, in February 2017, she received the 18th „Hotel Okura Music Prize“.
With home bases in both Zurich and Tokyo, Hitomi Niikura enjoys various aspects of her life as a performer. Since 2014, she has been assistant principal cellist at Camerata Zurich chamber orchestra and has been invited to various music festivals as a member of the locally popular Klezmer band „Cheibe Balagan", thus broadening her musical repertoire. In 2016, she presented her own dress line for performers and audiences, a collaboration with the fashion label JILL STUART and the Japanese luxury department store ISETAN Mitsukoshi, which was well-received by the critics. In August 2017, Japanese cable TV channel BS Fuji broadcasted an exclusive documentary about her life and career as a musician. Since October 2017, a recording of the Hitomi Niikura String Quartet has been on broadcast as the theme song for TV Asahi’s popular program “Walking the world’s country roads”.
Born 1985 in Tokyo, Hitomi Niikura spent her childhood in the United States and Germany. At the age of eight, she started to play the cello. Back in her homeland, she attended Jr. High School St. Hilda and Toho High School in Tokyo. She completed her undergraduate studies at Toho Gakuen School of Music, majoring in music. As the best student of her college, she was invited to play for the Japanese Emperor at the annual newcomer concert in Toka Concert Hall. Subsequently, Niikura excelled at the Conservatory in Basel, Switzerland, completing both her soloist and teaching degree with highest honors. So far she has refined her playing under the direction of Jan Vymyslicky, Hakuro Mori, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Thomas Demenga, and Martin Zeller (baroque cello), as has attended chamber music master classes with Tsugio Tokunaga and Koichiro Harada.
She currently plays a Matteo Goffriller cello built in 1710 on loan from the Munetsugu Collection.