Aska Kaneko

Aska Kaneko

Aska Kaneko Maret is a virtuoso violinist, a composer, musical director, producer and vocalist. Aska was born in Tokyo and grew up among a family of visual artists. She started Violin, Piano and compose at age 4. Her unique improvisational style arises from her childhood violin practices in natural settings. As a teenager, Aska won Grand Prize in an international quartet competition held in London. She later studied at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and went on to direct the Asian Fantasy Orchestra, a 10-year pan-Asian project supported by the Japan Foundation. She also directs Aska Strings, an all strings unit, which has released 3 albums including a collaborative work with Hugo Fattoruso. In 98, Aska won a Bessie Composition Award in New York for collaborative work with "The Unfinished Symphony," a work by the choreographer Yoshiko Chuma. In Japan Aska is well known as the musical director of major music theater productions. She is a member of Gaia Cuatro, a Japanese-Argentinian unit that regularly tours Europe and Japan since 2003. In 2015 Aska started a duo project. With Amy Camie:Harp (CD" Nebura" 2016) WithScott Robinson: Bass cl ( Improvisational duo works CD "Lumination" 2017.) With Masaki Hayash: Pf (CD "Delicia" 2018) With Pheeroan akLaff: Ds ("Hana Dharma"will be released soon.) yuLa: an electric ambient duo (Streaming "ambient works" 2020) A-Un, an post classic/Art Rock duo (Streaming "Oirase" " Arrival" "Cosmic Scale" and CD "Cosmic Scale"will be released this fall.) Aska's discography includes nearly thirty CD releases in a wide range of genres. She also practices Wu-dang Tai-chi, an ancient Daoist tradition, and is an aspiring vegetable gardener.