He is a bassoon player and conductor born to Japanese paents in Argentina who moved to New York City with his family when he was three years old. He sang as a choirboy from the time he was six until a young teenager and decided to perform with a punk rock band before beginning his studies in bassoon when he was 13. When he was 14 he won first prize at his first competition which led to him performing as a soloist on Bassoon Concerto by Mozart with a New York orchestra.
He went on to study at Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music pre-college division on scholarship. He then returned to take further studies at Juilliard School followed by The Curtis School of Music.
He gave his solo concert debut at Carnegie Hall when he was 18 years old and was featured on WQXR radio station in a Young Artist’s Showcase.
He held the position of Principal Bassoon with the National Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the St.. Louis Symphony and Virginia Symphony and in 1998 was Acting Principal Bassoon with the New York Philharmonic. In 2000 he became Principal Bassoon with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has been awarded the C. Hartman Kuhn Award given each year to “the member of The Philadelphia Orchestra who has shown ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance the standards and reputation of the ensemble.”
As a chamber musician he has been a performer and toured with the Marlboro Festival and after studying conducting he debuted as a conductor debut at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan in 2009. By invitation he returns to Japan to conduct and tour every year. He has also conducted several concerts at the Curtis Institute of Music and in 2016 and 2021 with the Virginia Symphony.
During his career he has worked as a soloist with orchestras that include the Auckland (New Zealand) Philharmonic, Curtis Symphony, National Symphony, the New York String Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony and in Japan with the Sapporo Symphony.
Recordings he has performed on include Marlboro Music Festival: 50th Anniversary and Peter Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”/Dumka by The Philadelphia Orchestra.
He has been a jury member of the Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia and in 2019 was invited by Valery Gergiev to be a judge. He has also been a jury member in Munich, Germany at the 2019 ARD Competition.
In the field of musical education he has been on the faculties of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music since 2002.
Sources:
- https://www.philorch.org/your-philorch/meet-your-orchestra/musicians/daniel-matsukawa/
- https://bulletproofmusician.com/daniel-matsukawa-on-cultivating-a-great-sound-and-three-components-of-becoming-a-better-practicer/
- https://www.chambermusicsociety.org/about/artists/woodwind/daniel-matsukawa/
- https://www.pmf.or.jp/en/artist/pmfo_faculty/pmfa/2019-F23.html
- https://www.curtis.edu/academics/faculty/daniel-matsukawa/