Yasunori Imamura studied lute with Eugen Müller-Dombois and Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum in Basle, where he received his soloist’s diploma in 1981. Subsequently, he worked on interpretation and thoroughbass with Ton Koopman and Johann Sonnleitner and composition with Wolfgang Neininger.
Today, Imamura is recognised as one of the most prominent figures of the lute, both as a soloist as well as a continuo player. He is professor of lute at the Conservatoire et académie supérieure de musique de Strasbourg, as well as at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, and regularly gives masterclasses in Europe and the Far East.
His solo recordings have received excellent reviews in various audio magazines, with the Diapason d’or prize for Lute Sonatas, Vol. 1 by Silvius Leopold Weiss in 2006 and a Joker de Crescendo prize for Lute Sonatas, Vol. 2 by Weiss in 2008. He received the Cultural Achievement Award from the Canton of Solothurn (Switzerland) in 2010.
Besides his activities as a soloist, Yasunori Imamura has collaborated as a continuo player with leading artists such as Cecilia Bartoli, Teresa Berganza, Núria Rial, Marc Minkowski, Maurice Steger, Michael Schneider, Martin Gester and Alan Curtis, and has made more than 140 recordings. In 1997 he founded the ensemble Fons Musicae, performing throughout Europe and the Far East. They have made several recordings and have earned various international awards, including the Classica prize and the Sterne des Monats prize.
For more information, visit www.yasunoriimamura.com.