Naoki Kita

Naoki Kita
Violin Player

photograph by Kohei Kawaguchi

Naoki Kita was born in Iwate prefecture, Japan, in 1972.

He started to learn the violin from 8 years old, and studied classical music at The Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo.

After the college, He studied composition, arrangement and jazz improvisation at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in the UK. His graduation work, “The Sunspot”, was performed by members of The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999.

After the UK, he stayed in Buenos Aires for four month, and studied a way of playing Tango under Fernado Suarez Paz, who used to be a violin player of Astor Piazzolla quintet.

During the stay, he performed with local musicians in several tango shows.

He began full-scale musical activities as a professional violin player from 1999.

He presided over a Tango group “The Tangophobics” from 2000 to 2004, and made live performance in all parts of Japan.

Besides this activity, he participated in recordings and concert tours of

many tango musicians residing in Japan.

Engaging in the activities as a tango musician, he simultaneously extended his field of activity, such as Jazz, improvised music, Arabic music and so on.

And he played together with performers from different artistic fields, such as Japanese traditional music, contemporary art and dance.

As a turning point, he produced an album “Viohazard” in 2006, focusing on original music.

He wrote lyrics for several songs recorded in this album.

He has recently performed mainly in jazz clubs situated in Tokyo.

Contents of the performance include a blend of original music and the improvised music.

He has tried to create his own musical expression.

In spite of the Tango based music roots, he has pursued his own music, without over-depending on specific musical style.