Masatomo Tomikawa
Biography Masatomo Tomikawa
Masatomo Tomikawa
Japanese classical guitarist Masatomo Tomikawa was born on July 15, 1972 in Sapporo city, Hokkaido Prefecture.
Tomikawa spent his early childhood in Taiwan, from the age of 3 until before he entered elementary school.
He studied the classical guitar from the age of 12 under Yoshiki Saito in Sendai. After he graduated from the Miyagi Prefectural Sendai-Daini Senior High School, he entered the Department of Spanish Language and Hispanic Studies in Sophia University in Tokyo, specializing in Spanish art history. The title of his graduation thesis was “Neocasticismo in the music of Joaquin Rodrigo”
While attending university, he continued his studies in classical guitar with guitarist Takeshi Tezuka.
In 1994, he won first prize in the university division of the GLC student guitar competition. He was recommended to pursue his guitar studies overseas by visiting Spanish guitarist Maestro Jose Luis Gonzales. In 1996, Tomikawa traveled to Spain where he studied with JL Gonzales for two years in the city of Alcoy. But the Maestro passed away suddenly in 1998, making Tomikawa his last student.
Tomikawa then joined the prestigious Escola D’Arts Musicals Luthier in Barcelona where he studied with classical guitarist Alex Garrobe.
In 1999, Tomikawa won first prize in the guitar section of the Il Festival de Musicos Jovenes Barcelona (Barcelona music festival for young people) and other honours. He also won fourth prize at the 45th Kyushu Guitar Music Competition.
Tomikawa returned to Japan in 2000.
From 2001, he translated the Guitarist Dictionary by Domingo Prat for the Gendai Guitar magazine. He has also written many articles related to the classical guitar, including a series on the life of Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz and others.
He has a very wide repertory, ranging from pure Spanish works to modern music. In the fall of 2000, he performed Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is currently active both as a solo performer and in ensembles, and is also very busy as a teacher.
