Rio Arai, violin

Rio Arai was born in Tokyo in 1999. She studied at Tokyo University of the Arts on a special scholarship and graduated top of her class. In recognition of this achievement, she received the Acanthus Award and the Mitsubishi Estate Award, presented to the university’s most outstanding students. She is also a recipient of the Fukushima Scholarship, the Ataka Scholarship, and the Miyata Ryohei Scholarship. In 2017, she was awarded the Munetsugu Tokuji Special Scholarship at Tokyo University of the Arts. She is a graduate of the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne. 

Rio Arai has won several prestigious competitions, including First Prize and the Audience Prize in the Strings Division of the 15th Tokyo Music Competition, as well as First Prize in the Violin Division of the 87th Japan Music Competition, where she also received the Leucadia Prize, the Sumi Prize, and the Kuroyanagi Prize. She was additionally awarded Sixth Prize in the Violin Division of the 7th Sendai International Music Competition. 

In 2018, she received the Excellence Award at the 11th Music Academy in Miyazaki and the IMA Music Prize at the Ishikawa Music Academy. In 2019, she was awarded both the Excellence Award and the Music Director’s Award at the 12th Music Academy in Miyazaki. 

Rio Arai performed in the 386th edition of the “Hotel Okura Lobby Concert 25” series. Following the renovation of the historic hotel, renamed The Okura Tokyo, she was invited to perform at its reopening concert. She was also selected as soloist for the international project “Fendi Renaissance – Anima Mundi.” 

She has appeared with numerous leading orchestras, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gunma Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Geidai Philharmonia. 

During her studies in Switzerland, she was actively involved in charitable projects alongside her artistic activities. She also appears regularly in the media, notably on radio and television, including TV Asahi (“Untitled Concert”) and NHK. She is a recipient of the 17th Best Debutant Prize, which honours young creative artists from a variety of disciplines. 

From 2018 to 2020, Rio Arai performed on a 1779 “J. B. Guadagnini” violin, generously loaned for two years by the ITOH Foundation. She currently plays a 1837 “J. F. Pressenda” violin, on loan from Nippon Violin Co. 

She studied with Gérard Poulet, Takashi Nagamine, Kazuki Sawa, Takako Yamazaki, Masafumi Hori, and Natsumi Tamai, and is currently continuing her artistic development with Janine Jansen. 

Since September 2024, Rio Arai has been an Artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in the class of Augustin Dumay.