Joji Hattori, violin & viola 
Joji Hattori, violin & viola. Artistic Director of this project, was born in Japan and spent most of his childhood in Vienna. Influenced by both cultures and with a strong background in chamber music, Hattori is today one of the very few musicians of Asian heritage who is recognised by international orchestras for his interpretation of the Viennese Classics. In addition to his activities as violin soloist, he is very dedicated to chamber music and spends a significant amount of time as conductor of chamber orchestras. He has recently been appointed Associate Conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.
He studied violin with Rainer Küchl, Yehudi Menuhin, Michel Schwalbé and Vladimir Spivakov and in 1989 won First Prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. In 2002, he gave his conducting debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall and was awarded the Lincoln Maazel Fellowship at the inaugural Maazel-Vilar Conductor’s Competition, thus enabling him to have Lorin Maazel as his mentor for three years. Having recently toured Portugal with Maria Joao Pires and the Tokyo Ensemble, highlights of the season include a conducting appearance with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt and the New Japan Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert in Tokyo.
Apart from his performing activities, he is President and Member of the Jury of the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and in 2003 he was made Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London. He also studied sociology at Oxford University (St. Antony College).
