She is a violinist born in Yokohama and growing up in Kamakura, Japan to a family where her father was a rock musician and her mother a kindergarten teacher. After winning the All Japan Young Musicians Competition she was awarded a full scholarship to the Tokyo College of Music where she earned her Bachelor’s degree. She also studied at Roosevelt University’s Music Conservatory.
In 1993 she was the concertmaster of the Tokyo College of Music Symphony’s US concert tour and that same year was a soloist for the Thuringer Philharmonic Orchestra’s German concert tour.
She was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra from around 1997 and was the concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before becoming a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2000.
Alongside her work with the CSO she performed with the Asia Philharmonic in 2008 and the Music of the Baroque Orchestra in 2020.
In the recording studio she has performed on Shulamit Ran with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra among others.
She performs here…
Sources:
- https://cso.org/about/performers/chicago-symphony-orchestra/violins/kozue-funakoshi/
- https://csosoundsandstories.org/kozue-funakoshi-violin/
- https://www.baroque.org/Att/979
- https://www.roosevelt.edu/colleges/ccpa/music-conservatory/music-student-achievements
- https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/TR0970.pdf