Tomoko Tanaka (violin)
Tomoko Tanaka Mao was born in Nagoya, Japan. She started playing the piano at the age of 3 and the violin at 4. At the age of 7, setting the record for their youngest ever winner, she won first prize of the Kumaniti violin competition. Other awards include the West Japan Rising Star Musician Award and the New World Symphony Concerto Competition. After graduating from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in Japan, she went on to achieve a Master's Degree in Music from the New England Conservatory in Boston.
Her illustrious list of teachers include Pinchas Zukerman, Vladimir Spivakov, Masuko Ushioda (pupil of Joseph Szigeti, Toru Yasunaga (Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic), Marylou Speaker Churchill (Principal of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Koichiro Harada (First violin of the Tokyo String Quartet). She also studied chamber music under the tutelage of the Bartok Quartet and the Cleveland quartet, and with Eugene Lehner of the Kolisch Quartet.
At the New World Symphony Orchestra, she was appointed by Michael Tilson Thomas as Associate concertmaster, a position she also held at the Middle Japan Orchestra and substitute player of Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra. She joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic in 1997.
As an experienced orchestral and chamber music player, she has performed around the world in major cities of Japan, China, Korea, The U.S.A. and Europe. She was concertmaster of the Pacific Music Festival in Japan as well as performing with the New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra and taking part in the Aspen Music Festival. As an experienced chamber musician, she has performed with members of the Berlin Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, she has held recitals in Hong Kong, Japan,U.S.A. and Italy.
David Knowles (piano)
A naturalised Icelander of Welsh and German ancestry, David Knowles was born in Bath, England. He began studying piano at the age of 8 and cello at the age of 12. In 1976, he entered the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England with piano as first study. He decided to concentrate on piano accompaniment and graduated in 1980. He was awarded two scholarships to further his studies on the professional performer course.
In 1982, David moved to Iceland to take up a teaching position and gradually became involved with performance work. He was the Director of Music at the Catholic Cathedral in Reykjavik, coach and accompanist at the Reykjavik School of Singing, as well as teaching piano and cello at the Icelandic Suzuki Association School. David performed and recorded frequently for Icelandic radio and television, as well as making television appearances in many other countries, including Norway, Sweden, Italy and Romania.
Since moving to Hong Kong in 1994, David has performed with instrumentalists, vocalists and choirs at most public performance venues in the City, as well as making a number of recordings for Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). He has worked as an accompanist at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in both the vocal and wind/percussion departments of the Academy. Apart from his work as an accompanist, David also teaches and coaches on a freelance basis.
