Moné Hattori
Violin
Winner of five international violin competitions and likened to a young Hilary Hahn (Stereo Magazine), Moné Hattori (‘MONÉ’) is fast emerging as one of the most exciting violinists of her generation. She is widely heralded as “A virtuoso violinist, brilliant and sparkling” (France Musique), and “dazzling beyond her years” (BBC Music Magazine), with playing described as “utter perfection, emotionally touching and passionate, enthusing with radiance, musicality, and perfect technique”. She has also been championed as “both touching and astonishing — certain to be at the forefront of the world’s best violinists” (Berner Zeitung).
Recent and forthcoming concerto highlights include performances with Paavo Järvi & NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo (Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto); this concert video was very popular and gained 860,000 views on YouTube for a limited period of time. Robin Ticciati & DSO Berlin (Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1), and Myung-Whun Chung & Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (Beethoven Violin Concerto).
In Japan, MONÉ developed her own concert project, Storia, to broaden the horizons of classical music in Japan. Each year her one-of-a-kind collaborations with major artists received great acclaim. In 2024, she achieved historic success with an astonishing one-night concert of Shostakovich’s Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with Michiyoshi Inoue and NHK Symphony Orchestra. She performed over two days in Tokyo and Osaka. This unprecedented concert firmly established her as one of the top violinists in Japan.
Although Moné Hattori is well known as a Shostakovich evangelist in Japan, she has performed not only Shostakovich but also Prokofiev, Bernstein, Bartók, Király and many others. There is no one better than MONÉ when it comes to modern and contemporary classical music. In recent years, she performed the Japanese premiere of Fazil Say’s Violin Sonata No. 2 at Fazil Say’s direct request. A world tour with him is also planned.
For several seasons now, MONÉ has been working regularly at the highest levels in Japan. She frequently performs at the most important concert venues and appears with major orchestras, including the New Japan Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Recent highlights have included multi-concert national tours as soloist with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanagawa, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Outside of Japan, MONÉ’s career is also growing rapidly.
Her career began with her recital debut at the age of 10 in Milan’s Verdi Hall (capacity 2,000).
Moné Hattori has travelled around Russia and Europe from an early age. She gave numerous orchestral performances and recitals in 21 countries, including a highly successful performance with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in 2022. This performance was a great success, and the concert was included in the CD The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen Highlights 2022. The concert in Bangkok, Thailand, in March 2024 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra was such a success that tickets sold out immediately on the day of release, and additional seats also sold out immediately.
Other recent debuts in new territories have included Scandinavia (in recital at Den Norske Opera), Germany and Italy (as soloist with the European Union Youth Orchestra & Vladimir Ashkenazy), and in Eastern Europe at the Trans-Siberian Festival (Novosibirsk Philharmonic & Vadim Repin and State Youth Orchestra of Armenia & Sergey Smbatyan).
Born in Tokyo in September 1999, MONÉ grew up in a family of musicians, with three generations of successful composers on her father’s side. Following initial violin lessons with her mother, at six years old she joined the Toho Gakuen School of Music, where her professors included Aguri Suzuki and Akiko Tatsumi. Since the age of eight, she has also been enrolled in Zakhar Bron’s prestigious Academy in Switzerland. Currently, MONÉ is enjoying her time as a student at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, Tokyo.
MONÉ holds the Grand Prix of five international violin competitions, often as the youngest winner on record. Most recently, in 2020, she was the recipient of a generous Career Grant from New York’s Salon de Virtuosi. Aged ten, she became the youngest-ever winner of the 11th International Competition for Young Violinists in Honour of Karol Lipinski & Henryk Wieniawski, Poland (2009), also taking First Prize at the All Japan Art Association Competition that same year. She went on to win the Grand Prix and various special prizes at the 9th International Competition ‘Young Virtuosos’, Bulgaria (2013), and the 7th Novosibirsk International Violin Competition (Senior Division), Russia (2013) – in which she won the ‘17 years and over’ category at the age of just 13. She then went on to win the Grand Prix at the inaugural International Boris Goldstein Violin Competition in Bern, Switzerland (2015).
Moné Hattori made her debut recording with DSO Berlin, featuring Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy. Released in Japan on AVEX Classics in 2016, and in the rest of the world on ICA Classics in 2019, this recording has received great critical acclaim, including “A magnificent performer with a charming and beautiful subtlety of tone” (CD Journal) and “I was reminded of the debut of Hilary Hahn…” (Stereo Magazine). In 2021, she released her second disc on AVEX Classics: a recital programme of the violin sonatas of Prokofiev and R. Strauss.
MONÉ appears in a wide variety of media such as television, newspapers and magazines. She plays on an 18th-century violin by Guarneri del Gesù, on generous loan from an anonymous patron.
October 2026
