A greeting from TSVMC
This master class, led by Nobuko Imai, a leading violist in the music world, and three of her internationally active successors, targets violists from around the world with a strong desire to learn more from the quartet.
The pastoral natural landscape of Tamba Sasayama allows you to experience history and culture while learning more. This culminates in a student concert where you can unveil your new achievements.
The final day concludes with a rare opportunity to see the four instructors in performance as The Imai Viola Quartet.
Lessons are available to all people interested in discovering more about the world of the viola and the way its sound resonates
in the majesty of Tamba Sasayama.
We look forward to your visit.
We would like to extend our greetings upon holding
the Tamba-Sasayama Viola Master Class 2021.
In 2020, novel coronavirus infections continuously spread across the world. The tough battle to protect lives and livelihoods that humankind had not experienced before has carried over from last year and continues today.
We offer our sincere gratitude to all medical workers and everyone who is earnestly supporting our livelihoods despite the risk of infection. In addition, we express our sympathies to everyone who has been forced to practice self-isolation and has had their lives and activities restricted long-term.
Although the 1st Tamba-Sasayama Viola Master Class was scheduled to be held in March 2020, we had no choice but to cancel it. However, we went on to implement various measures to prevent infections and explored many effective ways to carry out activities. Utilizing these experiences, we have decided to hold the Master Class in 2021 to connect Tamba to the world and provide a valuable learning opportunity for the students who were supposed to participate in 2020 with the support of Professor Nobuko Imai and 3 other instructors.
We hope we can encourage each other to carry on until the day that the coronavirus pandemic comes to an end and lecturers, students, and everybody interested in listening from Japan and the rest of the world can freely gather in Tamba-Sasayama to enjoy viola music.
Tamba-Sasayama Viola Master Class Executive Committee
A greeting from Nobuko Imai
In addition to myself, The Imai Viola Quartet consists of Veit Hertenstein, Wenting Kang, and Nian Liu. They are musicians I highly respect and who have much to offer the student body as instructors.
A new master class is poised to begin with myself and this team of experts in Tamba Sasayama, located in Hyogo Prefecture.
Drawing on my experience with a viola master class held in Otaru, Hokkaido Prefecture for 15 years, we have launched this new program as an opportunity for people of all ages and nationalities, from students to professionals, to learn more in Tamba Sasayama.
Students of the viola face various challenges, as do professional violists. Even after becoming a professional player, the challenges ahead are many.
The Tamba Sasayama Master Class allows those facing a variety of challenges on the route to mastery of the instrument to further their studies with us.
Tamba Sasayama is a historic castle town. It is a wonderful location rich in natural scenery that allows you to experience Japanese culture up close. We look forward to meeting you all soon in Tamba Sasayama.
Toward the TSVMC 2021
Dear friends,
I am very happy to announce today that Tamba Sasayama Viola Masterclasses which was postponed from last spring, will finally take place this coming March, 2021.
This time all the teachers, Veit Hertenstein in Germany, Wenting Kang in Spain, Nian Liu in China, myself in Tamba Sasayama, Japan, and all the students who are participating from all over the world will be connected by internet in order to get the online lessons and lessons in person by me. We are now preparing for the final concert to be provided by internet.
Our life has changed largely from a year ago. Though we have more restriction (less freedom) for traveling or getting together with others, but we have been experiencing ways for the new encounters and experiments.
It seems that we will be in this situation for a while, and we would love to share with you the thoughts of Music and Viola by new way of digital communications.
Nobuko Imai
Copyright TSVMC 2021.