Asako Urushihara's name came to the attention of the music world in 1983 when she won the first prize at the 2nd International Music Competition of Japan as the youngest winner of the competition. She received the best performance prize for contemporary music as well. In 1986 she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Julliard School under D. Delay. As a winner of the 1988 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, she made her splendid New York recital debut in that year, which was followed by Washington debut which was highly acclaimed by the Washington Post as a formidable talent. Since her Tokyo debut at age 13 as a soloist with the NHK Symphony, she has performed with such orchestras as the Baltimore Symphony, the Hungarian State Symphony, the Trondheim Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Moscow State Symphony, SWF Sinfonieorchester collaborating with such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Horst Stein, Jean Fournet, Zdenek Makal Gary Bertini, and Hans Zender, and virtually with every major Japanese orchestra. Acclaimed for her technical command and musical temperament, numerous recitals have taken place including in 1992 Vienna debut at Musikverein's Brahms Hall. She has been invited as a soloist to join Europe & Japan tours by such orchestras as the Milwaukee Symphony, the Moscow State Symphony, the Prague Radio Symphony, the SWR Sinfonieorchester, the Warsaw National Philharmonic and Japanese orchestras. She has also appeared at various Festivals such as Marlboro, Wien Festwochen (Art Week), Kuhumo, Schwetzingen, Darmstadt, Munchen Biennale, Berlin Biennale, Salzburg Festspiel and Musikfestwochen Luzern where she has performed with Rudolf Serkin, Richard Goode, Irvine Arditti and many other artists. Her many major awards also include the 1987 Arion Prize and the 1990 Mobil Music Award. She has released many CD recordings with various repertoires. Her CD released in June 2003 from Fontec, featuring all Schumann Program (3 Violin Sonatas and 3 Romances) has been highly praised by various newspapers and music magazines. In 2004, she again received accolades from numerous print organizations for her performances of the complete Brahms violin and piano sonatas. In June 2005, she released a CD of the same program, which has also received critical acclaim. More recently, her performances have been attracting attention for their inner beauty and spiritual depth. Ms. Urushihara has not exhausted her full potential as an artist. And classical music lovers of all ages can expect many more years of listening pleasure as she attains new depths and explores new musical territories which will only add to her already established reputation as an artist extraordinaire. August 2005