Musicians

“Something I really appreciate about playing in the CCO is that there’s a sense of good balance.  And with the acoustic of the hall, I feel I can play with a healthy amount of presence without having to compete with the volume of the winds, even though our string sections are fairly compact… For those who haven’t attended one of our concerts, please come!  You’ll get a real, live orchestra experience!“

Eugene Muneyoshi Takahashi enjoys a versatile career both in the US and abroad. Born in Kanagawa, Japan, he started his violin study at age three.  He worked in Tokyo playing with major orchestras and in the recording industry. He has played for over 600 recordings for movies, TV shows, commercials and pop artists. Currently based in NYC, he has played at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall and Symphony Space.  He is member of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and Iris String Quartet.

He has been concertmaster of Ensemble du Monde, Nova Philharmonic, One World Symphony, Toho Gakuen Orchestra Academy; guest concertmaster of the Japan Philharmonic; and guest associate concertmaster of Izmir Symphony Orchestra in Turkey. He has also played with orchestras such as the American Symphony, Charleston Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, and the Rochester Philharmonic. He has participated in renowned music festivals including Pacific Music Festival, Takefu International Music Festival and Miyazaki International Music Festival, where he had opportunities to work with artists such as Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell, John Corigliano, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi and Krzysztof Penderecki among others.

Beside his career as a violinist, he maintains a busy teaching studio. He has been Director of Hamilton-Madison House Music School and Coach/Orchestra Manager of Trinity Florentine Orchestra of InterSchool Orchestras of New York.  He is the founder and conductor of Lucidity Chamberistas, a chamber orchestra based in Long Island City, NY and conductor of Northeast String Orchestra. He is pursuing a Master’s degree in conducting, studying under Maurice Peress at Aaron Copland School of Music, CUNY Queens College. He also studied at Pierre Monteux School 2015.  A graduate of Eastman School of Music and the recipient of the highest honor from Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, he has studied violin with Koichiro Harada, founder of the Tokyo String Quartet, and Mikhail Kopelman, former leader of the Borodin String Quartet. He has had master classes with Thomas Brandis, Zakhar Bron, Vadim Gluzman, Rainer Küchl, Philippe Quint, Shinichi Suzuki and Zvi Zeitlin.