Hisato Osawa Piano Quintet (member rate)

Program

Team Japan! plays Classical Gems

This evening's program presents two powerful and contrasting works for piano quintet. Antonín Dvořák's beloved Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81 is a masterwork of the Romantic repertoire, full of Bohemian folk influences, lyrical melodies, and vibrant rhythms. After the intermission, the concert unveils a rarely heard gem, Hisato Osawa's Piano Quintet (1931-1932), which remained unpublished due to the turmoil of WWII. Thanks to the Kobe College Hisato Osawa Posthumous Collection, this remarkable work can finally be appreciated. Osawa's quintet combines Japanese sensitivity with European forms, creating a deeply expressive and unique voice.

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)

Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81

• I. Allegro, but not so much

• II. Dumka: Andante with motorcycle

• III. Scherzo: Very long

• IV. Finale: Allegro

Intermission

Hisato Osawa (1906-1953)

Piano Quintet (1931-1932)

**Courtesy of Kobe College Hisato Osawa Posthumous Collection

• I. Long sostenuto

• II. Waltz: Andante cantabile ma non troppo

• III. Adagio molto espressivo - Allegro frioso

  
  

Biography (individual)

Luri Lee has been praised as “the perfect chamber music partner” (Bachtrack), with

playing described as “spotlessly clean and with never a routine phrase” (The Calgary

Herald). She has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia as both a soloist

and chamber musician, captivating audiences with her artistry.

As a founding member of the Rolston String Quartet, Lee has earned numerous accolades,

including Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award, First Prize at the 12th Banff

International String Quartet Competition, and Grand Prizes at both the

31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition and the Astral Artists National

Auditions. The quartet's debut album, Souvenirs (2020)—an all-Tchaikovsky

recording—was named Recording of the Year by BBC Music Magazine. They have

performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Louvre, the Kennedy

Center, Koerner Hall, and Wigmore Hall.

In 2022, Lee joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and was appointed Assistant

Concertmaster in 2024. She is also a faculty member at the Taylor Academy of the

Royal Conservatory of Music. Playing a Carlo Tononi violin, generously on loan from

Shauna Rolston Shaw, Lee continues to inspire audiences and students alike.

When not performing, she enjoys traveling with her husband, violist Hezekiah Leung,

exploring new destinations and discovering hidden culinary treasures.

Eri Kosaka joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and became Principal Second

Violin in 2022. Prior to her current position, Ms. Kosaka was a member of the Kansas City

Symphony for two seasons and a violin fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach.

Growing up in Tokyo, Japan, Ms. Kosaka started playing the violin at age six and took lessons

with Akiko Tatsumi and Michael Tseitlin. After graduating from Toho High School of Music and

Toho Gakuen College of Music in Japan, she was awarded a scholarship from the Yamaha

Foundation to study abroad. Ms. Kosaka graduated with a Master of Music and Graduate

Diploma from the New England Conservatory where she studied with Miriam Fried. She has

participated in festivals and music academies across the US, Japan, and Europe, including the

Aspen Music Festival and Sarasota Music Festival in the US, Pacific Music Festival in Japan,

Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, Salzburg Music Academy in Austria, and Courchevel

International Music Academy in France. As a soloist, she has performed with the San Diego

Symphony, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, and Central Aichi Orchestra.

Praised for his “lovely lyricism” by The Calgary Herald, Hezekiah Leung has been featured as a

performer throughout North America and Europe as both a soloist and as the founding violist of the Rolston String Quartet — winner of the First Prize at the 12th Banff International String

Quartet Competition.

After completing his studies as a violinist at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of

Stephen Shipps, Leung pursued his artist diploma on the viola with Stephen Dann and Barry

Shiffman and received top prizes in the Glenn Gould Chamber Music Competition as well as the

74th Montreal Symphony Orchestra Standard Life Competition. He holds a Masters degree

from Rice University, an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music and was part of

the Fellowship Quartet in Residence at the Yale School of Music as a member of the Rolston

String Quartet.

Leung has shared the concert stage with such artists as Tabea Zimmerman, Leif Ove Andsnes,

Gilbert Kalish, Jon Kimura Parker, Miguel da Silva, James Dunham, Paul Neubauer, Yura Lee,

Donald Palma, Joel Quarrington, Andrés Díaz, Gary Hoffman, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Cho-

Liang Lin, Tara Helen O'Connor, David Shifrin Sharon Kam and James Campbell.

As a founding member of the Rolston String Quartet, he was also awarded Grand Prize at the

31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, as well as the Astral Artists National

Auditions. The quartet has performed at some of the most prestigious concert venues on the

globe, including Carnegie Hall, the Louvre, Kennedy Center, Koerner Hall and Wigmore Hall.

Keeping in the teaching tradition, they have taught at the Yale School of Music, University of

Toronto, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival among others. Their debut album

Souvenirs, an all-Tchaikovsky released in 2020 was named Recording of the Year by BBC Music

Magazine. Leung joined the Dover Quartet as their violist for the 2022-2023 season and has

served on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and at Northwestern Bienen School of Music.

Described as a "pure chamber musician" (Globe and Mail) creating "moments of pure magic"

(Toronto Star), Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer is Principal Cello of the National Arts Center

Orchestra in Ottawa and Co-Artistic Director of the "5 at the First"; Chamber Music Series

Hamilton. With a first love of chamber music, Rachel regularly collaborates with her for a long time

duo partner, pianist Angela Park, and was cellist of JUNO award-winning piano quartet

Ensemble Made In Canada (2008-2020), the AYR Trio (2010-2020), and the Aviv Quartet (2002-

2010). An advocate for new Canadian music, Rachel has commissioned and premiered over 30

works including cello concerti by Stewart Goodyear and Kevin Lau, as well as solo and chamber

music. Her most recent album of the chamber music of Kevin Lau with the St. John - Mercer -

Park Trio was released in 2023 on Leaf Music, and her critically acclaimed album of the Bach

Suites was recorded on the 1696 Bonjour Stradivarius Cello from the Canada Council for the

Arts Musical Instrument Bank. Rachel plays a 17th century cello from Northern Italy.

Pianist Tomoko Inui is the citizen of the world. In 2004, she was given the Bruneau Prize

from McGill for her exceptional solo recital. She has been actively playing solo and chamer

music through the Access Montreal City Culture Program since 2006. She is a professor at pre-

Conservatoire de musique de montreal and has worked as an official accompanist at Queens

University, an organist at Eglise Saint Arsene, and a pianist for the Montreal West Operatic

Society. Tomoko is an avid chamber musician, having performed with the Alexander String

Quartet in Florence, Italy (2008), cellists Laurentieu Sbarcea in Marianzke Lazne, Czech

Republic (2003) and Valentin Scharff in Liesing, Austria (2014 & 2015), and violist Marcus

Thompson in Montreal (2016-2019). Her concert appearances include the International Music

Festival and Workshop (2003-2011). Summer in 2014&2015, she worked for the

FriedensKonzert (peace concert) in Liesing, Austria. She has done the recording projects of

music by Mozart, Chopin, Ravel, and Rachmaninoff with the recording engineer Meining

Cheung (2008 and 2013). She has a Licentiate and Master's degree in piano solo performance

from McGill University, and also holds a PhD and previously worked in the field of physics

oceanography for many years.