Biography

A native of Japan, violinist Yuhka Nagai graduated in 2014 from the Royal Academy of Music in London as a student of Mayumi Fujikawa. She also holds Diploma at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance as a scholar of 2 scholarships and MA in Performance degrees and LRAM teaching qualification from the Royal Academy, and Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees from the Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo, Japan. In addition, she has also obtained teaching qualifications in Japan, which allowed her to teach at select local high schools, and has enabled her to pursue her passion for teaching in London before and New Zealand at the moment. She teaches at the Pettman National Junior Academy. In Japan Yuhka was selected to play in the Musashino Academia Symphony Orchestra as leader for 3 years, from 2007 to 2010. An active solo and chamber musician, Yuhka has been a member of a variety of chamber music ensembles and has performed at the venues such as Cadogan Hall, St Johns Square and St James Piccadilly and The old Royal Naval College Chapel. Yuhka took many masterclasses with prof. I. Gitlis, B. Sayevich,V. Balzalorsky,G. Poulet, U. Hoelscher R. Daugarell, Kazuki Sawa, T.Brandies and R. Waterman. While a member of the piano quartet, “Blüte,” she won third prize in the 1st Memorial Tokyo Art Chamber Music competition, and later this ensemble’s recital was sponsored by the Tokyo Art Center. She was the violinist of the Kodo Quartet which was selected for a programme of The Richard Carne Mentorship with Caducci and Wihan String Quartets. In 2015 Kodo had been selected for the competition, "The Richard Carne Intercollegiate String Quartet Competition 2015 at Trinity Laban Conservatoire Music and Dance. After coming to London for studies, Yuhka has performed in several lunchtime concerts where she introduced Japanese composers such as Hikaru Hayashi to a wider audience in the United Kingdom. Aside from music performance and education, Yuhka learnt different approaches to improving musical performance/ teaching through mental training with Dr. Shuichi Tsuji and Alexander Technique with John Crawford. Followed by her studies in London, she has completed APO Manchester fellowship program 2017. She has been playing with APO and DSO in NZ as a contractor. Yuhka also has been interested in studying early music study with NZ baroque violinist, Miranda Hutton and Graham McPhail.She has been teaching for Albany school of music, Remuera music Academy, Scherzo music school since 2018 and has started teaching at Rosmini college, Takapuna, NZ in 2021 as itinerant violin and viola tutor.