Anna Hashimoto

Anna Hashimoto made her London concerto debut at the age of 15 playing Weber with the English Chamber Orchestra at Barbican Centre. She has since been invited regularly as a soloist with the orchestra, most recently in Norfolk in the presence of HRH Prince Charles. She was the winner of the International Clarinet Competitions in Kortrijk (Belgium) in 2010, in Carlino (Italy) in 2009, and the Young Clarinettists Competition in Tokyo in 2003.

Anna has performed in major venues in the UK, Europe, USA, Mexico and Japan, including South Bank Centre and Wigmore Hall in London, Dvorak Hall in Prague and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She has played concertos with orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Filharmonie Hradec Kralove, Japan Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, and the Chamber Orchestra of the NHK Symphony. She has been broadcast on NHK TV and FM, FM Tokyo, ABC Radio and BBC Radio 3, including BBC Radio3’s ‘In Tune’, NHK-FM’s ‘Best of Classic’ and NHK TV’s ‘Classic Club’ (joint recital with Michael Collins). Anna’s debut solo album ‘A Touch of France’ has had very favourable reviews in UK, USA and Japan.  She released her second solo album, 'A Touch of Anna' in 2014.

Anna studied at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music with Charles Hine, the Purcell School and Royal Academy of Music with the world–renowned soloist Michael Collins. There she was awarded a full Associated Board Scholarship and numerous prizes including the Leverhulme Scholarship, Buffet Crampon Clarinet Prize, and Regency Award on graduation. She was awarded a Meaker Fellowship in 2011, and became an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014.  Since 2012 her ensemble 'Atéa Quintet' have been Associate Ensemble in Residence at the Birmingham Conservatoire, where they regularly perform and coach chamber music. In 2014 the quintet also became Quintet in Residence at The Purcell School.

As a soloist Anna has worked with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Paul Watkins, Myung-Whun Chung and Jan Latham-Koenig. She has performed chamber music collaborations with artists such as Michael Collins, Leon McCawley and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and string quartets such as Endellion, Alberny, Ciurlonis, Kodaly and Prazak Quartets. As a keen orchestral player she has been guest principal with the UK's leading orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, and Philharmonia, and she is a clarinet tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire.