Sonoko Miriam Shimano Welde (b. 1996) is from Bergen, Norway. She first started to play the violin at the age of five, with teacher Crista Bohlmann in Minnesota, and continued under Britta Skärby-Vindenes in Bergen. Currently she is a student at Norway's leading talent school, the Barratt Due Institute of Music, where her professors are Stephan Barratt-Due, Alf R. Kraggerud and Henning Kraggerud. A former student of Razumovsky Academy in London, she has also benefited from master classes with musicians such as Mauricio…
Sonoko Miriam Shimano Welde (b. 1996) is from Bergen, Norway. She first started to play the violin at the age of five, with teacher Crista Bohlmann in Minnesota, and continued under Britta Skärby-Vindenes in Bergen. Currently she is a student at Norway’s leading talent school, the Barratt Due Institute of Music, where her professors are Stephan Barratt-Due, Alf R. Kraggerud and Henning Kraggerud. A former student of Razumovsky Academy in London, she has also benefited from master classes with musicians such as Mauricio Fuks, Dora Schwarzberg, Ida Haendel, Sarah Chang and Koichiro Harada. Sonoko Miriam has performed as a soloist at venues like London’s Wigmore Hall, Bergens Grieg Hall, Tokyo Opera City Hall and Osaka Izumi Hall. Solo performances with orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic, the Collegium Musicum, Ung Symfoni and Estonian Chamber Orchestra. She has played at the Bergen International Festival, the Valdres Sommersymfoni, and the Røros Winter Festival. She has won First Prizes at the Norwegian Music Championship for Youth, as well as prizes at the International Kocian Violin Competition (Czech Republic) and Young Musician (Estonia), and has twice been a semi-finalist in the Menuhin Competition. Sonoko Miriam is the receiver of the Bergen Municipality Talent Award (2009). She plays a violin generously on loan from Dextra Musica. Jan 2012