Credits:

Hisae Takema

Description:

Hisae Takema is an up-and-coming mandolinist who leads mandolin music in Japan. She is releasing her first album with Masahiro Masuda, one of Japan's most talented guitarists, as her best partner! Hisae Takema studied at the Cologne College of Music, Wuppertal, Germany in 2004 and won the first prize at the 19th Japan Mandolin Solo Competition in the same year. The following September, she gave a successful prize-winning recital. After moving to Tokyo, Masahiro Masuda has been active in a wide range of performance activities, appearing in various solo and ensemble concerts in the Kansai and Kanto regions, and as an extra in professional orchestras in various regions. Masahiro Masuda is one of the top guitarists in Japan, having won the Classical Guitar Competition in 1990 at the age of 12, the youngest ever winner, and has remained at the forefront of the field ever since. The repertoire of mandolin works performed in Japan is rather small and mostly limited to a few pieces written by a very few composers in the first half of the 20th century. In this album, the duo shows new possibilities for mandolin-guitar duets by turning their attention to and shedding light on these fine classical pieces that are still rarely performed in Japan.This is the first album by this miraculous duo that combines rich musicality with solid technique to support it. Please enjoy it to the end. FONTEC