Young Wilkins classical violinist gets national recognition
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For a while, classical music performed by three members of the Sakai family frequently filled their house in Wilkins. Mother Sonomi Sakai, a classically trained pianist, joined cellist daughter, Nozomi, and daughter, Inori, a violinist, for mini-concerts that were enjoyed by their father, Tetsuro Sakai, an anesthesiologist at UPMC in Oakland.
The ensemble has since dissolved, now that Nozomi, 19, has gone on to study biology at the University of California, Berkeley. But Inori, 16, continues her interest in the violin, an attraction that is now earning her recognition in the greater world of classical music. On March 25, she will vie against seven other string players for the top prize of $2,000 at the national competition of the Music Teachers National Association scheduled for the Hilton Hotel in New York City.
Co-concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, Inori began studying the violin at the age of 6, first with Richard Fischer, then with his daughter, Linda Fischer, violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Six years ago, she started studying under Hong-Guang Jia, the PSO's assistant concertmaster.
"I practice my violin anywhere from two to four hours every day," said Inori, a mostly straight-A student at Ellis School in Shadyside. "I like to stay up late, so I have time to fit in my homework."
"When Inori practices her violin, I'll sometimes give her suggestions about her intonation or phrasing, but at the moment she knows the violin a lot better than I do," said Mrs. Sakai, a jazz as well as classical pianist who performed at Morgan's Restaurant and Lounge in Penn Hills and other venues under the name Sunny.
The three-tiered competitions begin at the state level, which Inori won in November at the competition at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County. State competition winners then advanced to division competition, held on Jan. 2 at West Chester University in Chester County. As a division winner, Inori will advance to the national finals in Manhattan in March.
For all three tiers of the competition, Inori's repertoire includes the first movement of Bach's "Sonata No. 2 for Violin," the adagio second movement of Brahms' "Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano," Paganini's "Caprice No. 24" and Saint-Saens' "Caprice after a Study in the Form of a Waltz," transcribed for violin by Eugene Ysaye.
At the competitions, Inori's mother accompanied her on the piano in two of the pieces.
The young violinist has already won the Duquesne Young Artist National Competitions, the Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artist Competition and the Pittsburgh Chapter of Pennsylvania Music Teacher Association Competition.
As co-concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, Inori practices for three hours each Saturday at Heinz Hall, where the orchestra performs three concerts a year.
In December 2008, Inori was a featured soloist with the PSO in four Schooltime concerts, playing a Chinese piece by composer Chen Gang titled "Morning in Miao Ling." On Jan.21, she soloed with the PSO in the "Winter" movement of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" as part of the Fiddlesticks series.
Fiddlesticks is the PSO's feline musical ambassador. The Fiddlesticks Family Concerts expose children to various genres of music, lullabies to pop.
When asked who her favorite composer might be, Inori mentioned Bach.
"I find his compositions to be so perfectly structured, his chord changes so very beautiful," she said. "I have a CD of Itzhak Perlman, who along with Maxim Vengerov is my favorite violinist, performing Bach's solo pieces for violin."
In her leisure time, Inori likes to draw, and recently she entered one of her drawings in a scholastic competition, which earned her a second place.
Inori said she expects to make music her career but isn't sure whether she'll focus on teaching or performance.
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
