Tomoko Tanaka (violin)
Born in Nagoya, Japan, Tomoko Tanaka started playing the piano at the age of 3 and the violin at 4. She is winner of many prizes and awards around the world, including First Prize of the Kumaniti violin competition at age 7 (thus setting the record for their youngest ever winner), the West Japan Rising Star Musician Award and the New World Symphony Concerto Competition.
An experienced orchestral and chamber musician, she has performed around the world including in major cities in Japan, China, Korea the United States and Europe. She was Concertmaster of the Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra. 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 was Principal Second Violin of the Suwon Chamber Orchestra in Korea, and a member of the Boston Civic Orchestra. She joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1997.
A graduate of the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in Japan, she did post-graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Her illustrious list of teachers include Pinchas Zukerman, Vladimir Spivakov, Masuko Ushioda (pupil of Joseph Szigeti), Toru Yasunaga (Concertmaster of Berlin Philharmonic), Marylou Speaker Churchill (Principal of Boston Symphony Orchestra), and Koichiro Harada (First Violin of Tokyo String Quartet). She also studied chamber music under tutelage of the Bartok Quartet and the Cleveland Quartet, and with Eugene Lehner of the Kolisch Quartet. An experienced chamber musician, she has performed with members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony.
Tomoko lives with her husband(and fellow Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra violinist) Mao Yiguo and their lovely dog ChowChow"Ken-san"!
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.
