Mai Motobuchi has earned distinction as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Since joining the Borromeo String Quartet in 2000, Ms. Motobuchi has performed in the world’s most renowned concert halls, and she has collaborated with esteemed musicians including Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, Bernard Greenhouse, Kim Kashkashian, Ralph Kirshbaum, Larry Lesser, Midori, David Shifrin, Richard Stoltzman, Dawn Upshaw, and the Brentano, Colorado, Ying and Ysaye String Quartets. As a soloist, she has performed with such renowned performers as Yo-Yo Ma and Seiji Ozawa.
Since retiring from performing in July 2022, Ms. Motobuchi is in demand as a teacher in two countries, serving on the Viola and Chamber Music faculty at both the New England Conservatory of Music and at the Tenrikyo Institute of Music in her native Japan. She has given Master Classes in conservatories and festivals around the world and served as a member of the jury at the Primrose International Viola Competition in 2021, and will be a member of the jury at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2023.
As a member of the Borromeo String Quartet, Ms. Motobuchi has been awarded the 2007 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award (2001), and has served as Quartet-in-Residence at New England Conservatory of Music, Taos School of Music, and Heifetz International Music Institute.
Ms. Motobuchi first gained recognition in Japan as First Prize winner in the 1989 MBS Youth Music Competition, and in the 1990 and 1991 Ensemble Competition. Upon coming to the United States, she won First Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Junior Division and the Henri Kohn Memorial Award from the Tanglewood Music Center.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Mai Motobuchi started playing violin at age five. Her teachers have included Joseph Fuchs, Robert Dan, Raphael Hillyer, Martha Strongin Katz, Paul Katz, and Yoko Washio Iwatani.
Ms. Motobuchi is also a renown essayist in Japan, and her first book was published and released in July 2022 under Doyusha Publications.
