Ayano Nakamura
viola
Originally from Hudson, Ohio, violist Ayano Nakamura is equally at home as a soloist and chamber musician. She won Second Prize at the 2025 Washington International Competition for Strings and the Prize for the Best Interpretation of a work by Bohuslav Martinů at the 2025 Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in Prague. She was also among the winners of the 2023 NEC :: A Far Cry Collaborative Competition.
A devoted chamber musician, she has taken part in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World, the Verbier Festival Academy, the Edinburgh International Festival, NUME Academy & Festival, the Gstaad String Academy and the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop. In the summer of 2026, she was a fellow at both Ravinia’s Steans Institute and La Jolla SummerFest, forging new musical partnerships with established and emerging artists.
She has performed with Andreas Brantelid, Carolin Widmann, Gary Hoffman, Mathieu Herzog, Ettore Causa and members of the Grammy-nominated ensemble A Far Cry. She has also played in masterclasses led by Tabea Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit, Lars Anders Tomter, Máté Szűcs, Steven Tenenbom and Hsin-Yun Huang, encounters that have helped shape her artistic development.
Nakamura earned her Bachelor of Music at the New England Conservatory, studying with Martha Katz and Mai Motobuchi, and her Master of Music at the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Ettore Causa.
Since 2026, Ayano Nakamura has been an Artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the direction of Miguel da Silva.
Last updated: 25 September 2026