Aka Duo – formed in 2018 by Seina Matsuoka (violin) and Yuto Kiguchi (piano), who met at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and are studying with Stefan Mendl, pianist of the Vienna Piano Trio, and Peter Schuhmayer, first violinist of the Artis Quartet. The duo’s name ‘Aka’ is derived from two meanings. One is ‘Aka’, meaning RED in Japanese, and the other is an abbreviation of the English phrase ‘also known as’.

Each of us is active individually, but we also want to bring back what we have gained and develop the Duo further. And eventually we want to be known as the Aka Duo that shines as hot and strong as a red flame. The name Aka Duo is a reflection of this desire.

In the season 2024/2025, they have already been invited to perform at concerts and festivals in Poland and abroad, including Italy and USA. In summer 2024, they performed at the International Chopin and His Europe Festival, a summer festival organised by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, the organiser of the International Chopin Piano Competition. And in 2025, they will give a recital at the Musikverein Festival: Clara’s Flower Album.

They have a varied chamber music repertoire, ranging from duets to septets, and currently perform mainly in a violin-piano duo formation. The repertoire includes many violin sonatas from all periods, including classical, romantic and modern, and they also actively perform contemporary works in their recital programmes. Apart from their chamber music activities, the artists also perform individually as soloists.

The record is funded by the National Institute of Music and Dance (Narodowy Instytut Muzyki i Tańca) as a special prize for the first place winners, in the category of chamber ensembles, of the 3rd International Competition of Polish Music (2023) through the financial support from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.