Akiko Suwanai recently gave the world premiere of Peter Eötvös's composition Seven, a work dedicated to the astronauts who died in the Columbia shuttle disaster in February 2003. The first performance was at the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Boulez. Additional performances with Peter Eötvös himself conducting include Gothenburg, Budapest, Berlin, Tokyo and at the 2008 BBC Proms.

Additional future highlights include concerts with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, NHK Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, MDR Leipzig and Bilbao and Barcelona Symphonies. In Japan she regularly tours with Orchestre de Paris and Eschenbach, with NDR Symphony Orchestra under Dohnányi, with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Paavo Järvi and with the Philharmonia and Ashkenazy.

Akiko Suwanai has an exclusive recording contract with Universal and her releases to date have garnered much critical acclaim. Her next Universal release will be a CD of Beethoven Sonatas with Nicholas Angelich in 2009. She will also record Eötvös’s Seven for Budapest Music Center Records for release in 2010.

Akiko has collaborated with renowned conductors, including Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa and Wolfgang Sawallisch. The recipient of numerous awards, Akiko has been a winner at the International Paganini Competition, Italy, the International Japan Competition and the Queen Elisabeth International Competition, Belgium.

Akiko performs on the Antonio Stradivarius 1714 violin ‘Dolphin’, one of the most famous violins known today and previously owned by the celebrated violinist Jascha Heifetz. The ‘Dolphin’ violin is on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.