Nippon Music Foundation to Loan Three Stradivarius Instruments to Young Violinists

VC Young Artist Risa Hokamura, Giuseppe Gibboni, and Rino Yoshimoto will each spend at least two years playing on the foundation's instruments

Japan's Nippon Music Foundation, which owns a collection of 21 violins made by Stradivarius and Guarneri, has announced that three of its instruments will be loaned to young players. VC Young Artist Risa Hokamura, Giuseppe Gibboni, and Rino Yoshimoto will each receive the loan of a Stradivarius violin for a minimum of two years.

VC Young Artist Risa Hokamura has been loaned the "Joachim" Stradivarius of 1715, which was previously one of the three instruments in the collection of the nineteenth-century virtuoso Joseph Joachim. A silver medalist at the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Hokamura also won First Prize in the 2018 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions.

Italian violinist Giuseppe Gibboni will play on the "Jupiter" Stradivarius of 1722. Gibboni was the winner of the Paganini Violin Competition in Genoa in October 2021, where he also received the audience choice prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of works by Paganini.

Rino Yoshimoto will play on the "Muntz" Stradivarius of 1736. Yoshimoto was a finalist at the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition and second-prize winner at the Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition. She has also made solo appearances at Carnegie Hall and in Vienna's Musikverein.