Aka Duo
Biography Aka Duo
Aka Duo
Formed in 2018 by Seina Matsuoka (violin) and Yuto Kiguchi (piano), who met at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and are studying with prof. Stefan Mendl, pianist of the Vienna Piano Trio and prof. Peter Schuhmayer, first violinist of the Artis Quartet.
The AKA Duo’s name embraces two distinct meanings. In Japanese it refers to the color red while in English it is an abbreviation of the phrase, “also known as.” Since each member of the AKA Duo is also active as a solo artist, our individual concert experiences continue to enrich and develop the AKA Duo’s strengths as an ensemble. Even if we are two individual performers, we would like to also be known to the public as the AKA Duo and, just as the Japanese reading of our name implies, shine hot and strong like a blazing red flame on world’s stages.
In 2022, they won the first prize and the audience prize at the 26th Rospigliosi International Chamber Music Competition (Italy). In March 2023, they received first prize and also a special prize at the Pinerolo Torino International Chamber Music Competition (Italy), one of the most important international chamber music competitions. The jury member Lukas Hagen, the first violinist of the Hagen String Quartet, praised the ensemble, saying: 'No one can play the Sonata of R. Strauss better than you.’
In July 2023, they became the first Asians to win first prize unanimously by the jury, the Miłosz Magin Award and the Best Contemporary Music Performance Award at the 3rd International Polish Music Competition in the chamber music category. They have already been invited to perform at concerts and festivals in Poland and Italy in the coming season 2024-25. In summer 2024 they performed at the "International Chopin and His Europe Festival", a summer festival organised by the Frederic Chopin Institute, the organiser of the International Chopin Piano Competition. And in March 2025 they will give a recital at the "Clara's Flower Album" festival at the Vienna Musikverein.
They have a varied chamber music repertoire, ranging from duets to septets, and currently perform mainly in a violin-piano duo formation. The repertoire includes many violin sonatas from all periods, including classical, romantic and modern, and they also actively perform contemporary works in their recital programmes.
Seina Matsuoka
won the First Prize at the Szymanowski International Competition in 2023, as well as three special awards. This honor builds on her impressive competition circuit record that includes the 2013 Matsukata Hall Music Award, the 2015 ABC Newcomer Concert Best Music Award, the Second Prize at the 2015 Soji Angel Violin Competition, the 2018 Aoyama Music Award Newcomer Prize, the First Prize and Commissioned Work Prize at the First International Music Competitions at the Academy of the Performing Arts in Bratislava in 2022, and the Special Prize at the Fritz Kreisler International Competition in Vienna that same year.
Yuto Kiguchi
won the Second Prize as well as the Classical Sonata Prize at the Khachaturian International Competition in June 2023. Earlier, he was awarded the Second Prize at the Scriabin International Piano Competition in Grosseto, Italy, in 2021, and was the 2020 Best Song Accompanist prizewinner at the Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria. Mr. Kiguchi has performed with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Okayama Philharmonic Orchestra, Sereno Chamber Orchestra, and Grosseto Symphony Orchestra among others.
