Ikematsu Hiroshi
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Ikematsu Hiroshi was born in Brazil in 1964. He began the contrabass at the age of 19. Ikematsu graduated from Toho Gakuen College of Music. After serving as the principal contrabassist in the NHK Symphony Orchestra, he moved to New Zealand with his family in 2006, and there served as the principal contrabassist in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Ikematsu returned to Japan in 2014. Currently he is the principal contrabassist in the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Ikematsu has released eight solo albums so far. He is a member of the Mito Chamber Orchestra and of the Saito Kinen Orchestra. He is also enthusiastic about teaching younger musicians, and currently he is a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts and a visiting professor at Kunitachi College of Music. Ikematsu also gives master classes invited by overseas competitions, music festivals and music colleges in Germany, Britain, Poland, Austria, and China. His hobby is mountain stream fishing, and he won the 2013 New Zealand National Flyfishing Pairs Competition.