Mai Motobuchi

Japan

Since joining the Borromeo String Quartet in 2000, Mai Motobuchi has earned distinction as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher in the United States and her native Japan.  Ms. Motobuchi has performed in renowned concert halls around the world, and she has collaborated with the world’s finest musicians including Leon Fleischer, Gary Graffman, Bernard Greenhouse, Kim Kashkashian, Midori, David Shifrin, Richard Stoltzman, Dawn Upshaw, and the Brentano, Colorado, Ying and Ysaye String Quartets.  As a soloist, she has performed with such distinct performers as Yo-Yo Ma and Seiji Ozawa.

In addition to her active performing career, Ms. Motobuchi is in demand as a teacher on two continents, serving on the Viola and Chamber Music faculty at both the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and at the Tenrikyo Institute of Music in Japan.  She has given Master Classes in conservatories and festivals around the world and served as a member of the jury at Osaka International Chamber Music Competition.

As a member of the Borromeo String Quartet, Ms. Motobuchi has been awarded the 2007 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award (2001), and has served as Ensemble-in-Residence at New England Conservatory of Music, Taos School of Music, and Heifetz International Music Institute. 

Ms. Motobuchi first gained recognition in Japan as First Prize winner in the 1989 MBS Youth Music Competition, and in the 1990 and 1991 Ensemble Competition. Upon coming to the United States, she won First Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Junior Division and the Henri Kohn Memorial Award from the Tanglewood Music Center.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Mai Motobuchi started playing violin at age five.  Her teachers have included Joseph Fuchs, Robert Dan, Raphael Hillyer, Martha Strongin Katz, Paul Katz, and Yoko Washio Iwatani.