Aya Kiyonaga

Violin

Aya Kiyonaga joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in 2023. Aya has been featured in music festivals, including the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Bartok Festival, Viola Space, Noon to Midnight at Walt Disney Hall and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. As part of the Northern London Festival, she gave her London debut solo recital in 2008. Aya has received several awards, including the First Prize as well as the Audience Prize at the J&A Beare Solo Bach Competition, the 23rd Aoyama Music Award and the Second Prize at the 74th Japan Music Competition.

Aya has performed with major symphony orchestras of Japan and beyond as a soloist, including the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, the PAC Orchestra, the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kobe City Chamber Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali and the Dana Point Symphony. Her solo recital highlights include appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Tokyo Opera City and the NHK Hall. She has often performed on the NHK FM radio recital series.

A native of Kobe, Japan, Aya began her violin studies with Chihiro Kudo. Supported by the Rohm Music Foundation, Aya studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with György Pauk. She earned a Bachelor's degree from Soai University under the instruction of Machie Oguri and a Master of Arts degree from the Tokyo University of the Arts, where she studied with Natsumi Tamai, graduating at the top of her class. Aya moved to the U.S. in 2015 and graduated with a Graduate Certificate from the U.S.C. Thornton School of Music under the guidance of Midori Goto in 2017.