Eijin Nimura

Eijin Nimura (二村英仁, Nimura Eijin, born in 1970) is a Japanese violinist. He was appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace^[1] in 1998, the first Japanese to be chosen.

Profile

Eijin Nimura has established a brilliant career as a violinist, performing concertos with leading orchestras at home and abroad over the years; at the same time, as an “UNESCO Artist for Peace”, he is actively engaged in efforts that contribute to society through music.

Eijin Nimura was born in Tokyo and started playing the violin at the age of four. He spent every summer during the ages of nine to sixteen visiting the United States to receive private tuition from Dorothy DeLay of the Juilliard School. When he was eleven years old, he won praise from the renowned conductor Eugene Ormandy who expressed high hopes for his future. He has studied under eminent violinists such as Yoshio Unno, Kazuki Sawa, Chikashi Tanaka and Toshiya Eto.

Nimura graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts, after attending the Senior High School of Music attached to the Faculty of Music. Having won music competitions from childhood, he came second at the 1994 Paganini International Violin Competition and was awarded the first prize at the 1995 International Music Competition of Japan. He was the recipient of the Idemitsu Music Award in 1996.

In 1996 he launched his career, performing mostly outside Japan. He has received acclaim for his performances at the major concert halls in Europe.

Throughout his performing career, Eijin Nimura has been a regular performer at charity concerts. In recognition of his social activities, such as the donation of artificial limbs to rehabilitation centres established in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the conflict in the region, he was appointed “UNESCO Artist for Peace” by the United Nations in 1998, the first Japanese to be chosen. He has subsequently given performances in Sarajevo, as well as areas such as Kosovo and Palestine. His activities were featured in a documentary What Music Can Do – Violinist Eijin Nimura broadcast in 2000 on NHK General TV, the main channel for NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation); a two- hour documentary series was broadcast over three consecutive nights on NHK BS2.

He has been featured extensively in the media such as television and magazines. Nimura has appeared in KDD’s television commercial “Project 001 - Prague”. Television appearances include well-known programmes in Japan such as the talk shows “Tetsuko’s Room” (Tetsuko no Heya) and “Hello from Studio Park” (Studio Park kara Konnichiwa). He has appeared on the news programme “Tetsuya Chikushi’s News 23” and the long-running classical music programme “Untitled Concert” (Daimei no nai Ongakakukai). Examples of other major television appearances include the award-winning “Sealed Melody” (Fuinsareta Senritsu) broadcast on BS-i and he performed the main and closing theme tunes for the NHK drama series “Dreaming Grapes” (Yumemiru Budoh).

Nimura has released CDs for Sony Classical including What Music Can Do (Ongaku ni dekirukoto), From the Past to the Present (Toki o koete) and Scarlet Melody, the last of which was in collaboration with the U.K.’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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