Born in Japan and raised in England, Daichi Yoshimura, 18 is primarily a violist (although he also plays violin of equal standard) and comes from a musical background as both his parents played musical instruments. He has recently left the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester where he studied with violin and viola teachers Yumi Sasaki and Graham Oppenheimer respectively. He will continue his viola studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London in September 2016 under the tutelage of Juan-Miguel Hernandez, violist in the legendary Fine Arts Quartet. Prior to Chetham's, he had studied at the Royal College Music Junior Department for 5 years where he studied violin with Eszter Boda Katona and he received highly commended in the Hugh Bean memorial violin competition several times during his time there. During his time at Chetham’s he has had the opportunity to play in various string quartets and orchestras where he has played demanding yet rewarding works such as Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony, Mahler's 3rd Symphony and Debussy’s String Quartet. His quartet were finalists of the Fiona Ord string chamber music competition held at Chetham's in 2015 and 2016. His concerto debut came in June 2015 when he played the Malcolm Arnold Viola Concerto with the Athenean Ensemble as part of the Didsbury Festival under the baton of Nicholas Simpson.
He first fell in love with the violin aged 5 when he initially heard his mother play the instrument. He started playing the viola 3 years ago and although he was initially forced to play the instrument (Most violinists had to play the viola at one point during their time at Chetham’s due to the lack of viola players throughout the school!) he instantly fell in love with the instrument and in fact he considers the viola to be his main instrument, although he still holds the violin with great affection.
Daichi is currently using a viola made by Helen Michestschläger who is a distinguished viola maker based in Sale.
