Keiko Tokunaga, Violinist
Winner of the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, violinist Keiko Tokunaga is acclaimed for her “exceptional technical execution and graceful mastery” (The Boston Music Intelligencer). She performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, with appearances alongside the Spanish National Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orchestrada Tokyo, and the Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Tokunaga is the founder and Artistic Director of INTERWOVEN, an intercultural ensemble dedicated to bringing Asian and Western classical traditions into dialogue. Founded in 2021, INTERWOVEN has appeared at such venues as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Roulette in Brooklyn, and Vancouver Civic Centre Annex. As pioneers in intercultural contemporary chamber music, the ensemble has collaborated with leading universities and cultural institutions, including UCLA, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Toronto.
From 2005 to 2019, Ms. Tokunaga was a member of the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet, with whom she received the 2019 GRAMMY Award. During her tenure, the quartet also won First Prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and the ABC Classic FM Listener’s Choice Award at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. As a past winner of the Osaka Competition, she led national concert tours throughout Japan in 2020 and 2021, sponsored by the Japan Chamber Music Foundation.
Ms. Tokunaga serves on the faculty of Fordham University, where she teaches violin, viola, and chamber music. She has previously taught in the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and at Hunter College, New York University, the Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival, and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute.
Ms. Tokunaga plays a J. B. Vuillaume violin made in 1845, generously loaned to her by an anonymous donor. She also performs on a Baroque-style violin by Antonio Mariani, circa 1669, formerly in the collection of Gabriel Schaff. Her bow was made by Nicolas Maire, circa 1850.
Ms. Tokunaga performs at CCCMF 2026 on October 15, 16, and 18
