Ryuji Sakamoto(lute) Italian Renaissance Banquet in Fukuyama

*Limited to 30 participants; approximately 1 hour program with no intermission

Doors open 19:00, Concert begins 19:30
Venue: Fukuyama Literature Museum, Seminar Room (1-9-9 Marunouchi, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture)
*About 9 minutes walk from JR Fukuyama Station North Exit



Performer Profile
Ryosuke Sakamoto

Born in Nara, Japan. Lives and works in Basel, Switzerland. Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Letters (Aesthetics and Art). He studied lute and other stringed instruments under Mr. H. Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basel, and completed his master's degree with a prize of excellence. He then studied at the newly established Renaissance Music Department at the Schola Cantorum Basel as one of the first students.
In 2013, he won the first prize and audience prize in the solo lute category at the Maurizio Pratola International Competition, the first prize in the ensemble category at the 5th H.I.F. Biber International Old Music Competition, and the first prize in the ensemble category at the Saarland Old Music Festival 2014.
He has been invited to give solo recitals at music festivals and lute societies in Japan and other European countries. He has participated in various ensembles such as Ensemble Phoenix Munich, Thélème, and Ensemble Gilles Banschois, as well as in numerous opera projects and recordings. In Japan, he appeared on NHK FM's "Recital Nova".
In 2023, his former teacher A. Smith's book "Learning from the Theorists: Performance Methods of the 16th Century" was published by Ongaku-no-tomo-sha, Inc.
He co-translated and published by Ongaku no Tomo Sha, and was the general director of the concert series "ReRenaissance" in Basel, a program featuring music that has crossed the seas through the work of Jesuit missionaries.
From 2014 to 2019 he will be an official accompanist at his alma mater, the Schola Cantorum, and from 2022 he will teach younger students at the Musikhochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Würzburg, Germany, as a lecturer in the Department of Ancient Music.