A Japanese violinist Ayako Miyashita is one of the most outstanding players of her generation.

Born in Tokyo, started violin lessons with her mother at the age of three. When Ayako was 9 years old, Masao Kawabata took her as his pupil and two years later she was awarded in the 48th All Japan Student Competition. Between 1997 and 2004, she studied with Chikashi Tanaka and received numerous prizes in both national and international violin competitions. In 2000, she visited Europe to join in the Chateau de Champs violin masterclasses in France. 

When Ayako was eighteen, she won a full scholarship to participate in the ISA-International Summer Academy Wien-Prag-Budapest. In summer of the year, she became a prizewinner of the 21st Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition that brought her success of her debut concert with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Valek in Rudolfinum Dvorak Hall in the Czech Republic.

After graduation from the Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai), she moved to Austria to have some lessons with Michael Frischenschlager at postgraduate education in the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She then went to Norway for further study with Detlef Hahn in the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where she completed her master study with excellent results. Ayako has been a scholarship holder from the Tokyo Foundation and the Scandinavia-Nippon Sasakawa Foundation. She has performed in concerts throughout Europe, Asia and the United States.

Number of countries visited: 15