Ayako Ochi

Ayako Ochi started playing violin at the age of five with Professor S. Suzuki and soon made her debut as a soloist at the Japanese String Teachers Association. In 1990, she started her studies at the Senzoku-gakuen High School of Music and in 1991 she won first prize in the internal competition. Ochi finished her studies with the distinction of "excellent" in 1994 and performed as a soloist with Nobuko Imai that same year. After that, she studied in the soloist class of the Toho-gakuen High School of Music. In 1995, she started her studies in viola with Professor Rainer Moog at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. Her diploma with distinction allowed her to enter the soloist course which she finished with the Konzertexamen. Ochi won first prize in the Musikhochschule Köln competition in 1999 and also received the Prize of the Helga and Paul Hohnen Foundation. Since 2001 she has been 2. solo viola at the Theater of Dortmund and since 2003 she has been holding the same position in Würzburg. Since 2005, Ayako Ochi has been viola-first soloist at the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. She is also a member of the Scalda-Ensemble.