Tomoka Yamagata

Tomoka Yamagata is a first-year Violin Fellow at the New World Symphony. She has been a permanent member of the first violin section of the Staatskapelle Weimar at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Germany, since 2024. Prior to that, she performed with the Nürnberger Symphoniker as Second Chair First Violin and Concertmaster for select projects. She also completed an orchestral academy with the Staatsorchester Kassel and subsequently performed as a first violin tutti member.

Tomoka has participated in the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the International Orchestral Institute Attergau, where she studied with members of the Vienna Philharmonic. She has also participated in master classes with Régis Pasquier, Daniel Gaede, Elisabeth Kufferath and Tomáš Tomaszewski, among others.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Tomoka earned a master of music degree with distinction from the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, where she studied with Prof. Sebastian Hamann. She received her bachelor of music degree with honors from Soai University, where she studied with Prof. Ryoko Tanabe and Prof. Momoo Kishibe. During her undergraduate studies, a year-long exchange in Freiburg became the starting point for her musical journey in Germany.

As a soloist, Tomoka was selected by her university to perform in the Yomiuri Shinjin Concert, Kansai Shinjin Concert and Misasa Music Festival. She received First Prize at the Qualia Music Competition, among other awards and recognitions.

Outside of music, Tomoka enjoys spending time with her family, traveling and learning new languages. With her move to Miami, she is excited to call a third continent home—and perhaps trade some of her sauna time for a new hobby by the ocean.