Yasunori Imamura

Lutenist Yasunori Imamura is one of the foremost practitioners of his instrument in East Asia. He is the founder of an ensemble of his own, Fons Musicae, and his repertory covers large amounts of Baroque and early Classical repertory. Imamura's recording catalog embraces more than 150 recordings, including cycles devoted to Bach and Silvius Leopold Weiss. He also plays the theorbo and released Bach's complete suites for solo cello on that instrument in two volumes in 2025. Imamura was born in Osaka on October 19, 1953. After graduating from high school there, he studied lute with Toyohiko Satoh and then moved to the Netherlands for studies with Ton Koopman at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Imamura earned a soloist diploma from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 1981, studying with Eugen Müller-Dombois and Hopkinson Smith. He went on for further study with Koopman (in continuo playing and interpretation) and Wolfgang Neininger (in composition). In 1984, Imamura began teaching at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg (CNR) in France, and in 1989, he added to that a second post at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt, Germany. He continued to hold both positions as of the mid-2020s. In 1988, he made a recording of Lully excerpts with Les Musiciens du Louvre. An early solo recording, Visée: Pieces for Theorbo, came in 1994 on the Capriccio label. As a performer, Imamura was known for his participation in many early music groups, including Camerata Köln, La Stagione, Les Musiciens du Louvre, and Le Parlement de Musique. He has collaborated with major artists from the early music sphere and beyond, such as countertenor Gérard Lesne, mezzo-sopranos Teresa Berganza and Cecilia Bartoli, and keyboardist-conductors Christophe Rousset, Ton Koopman, and Jos van Immerseel. In 1997, he founded his own ensemble, Fons Musicae, which made several recordings, including one of works by Barbara Strozzi. Imamura's large recording catalog includes two complete cycles of the lute works of Bach, for Etcetera in 1991 and Naxos in 2018, and one of the sonatas of Silvius Leopold Weiss. His recording catalog, on labels such as CPO, Capriccio, and Naxos, among others, includes a wide variety of music from several national traditions and from the late Renaissance to the early Classical period. In 2025, he issued a pair of albums on Naxos devoted to Bach's suites for solo cello in his own arrangements for theorbo. ~ James Manheim, Rovi