Ayaka Ishiwatari

An active chamber musician, France-Belgium based violinist Ayaka Ishiwatari is the violinist of the Cong Quartet. Since joining the quartet in 2022, Ayaka has performed with the quartet around the world and was a prize winner of serval competitions, such as the International Music Competition Triomphe de l’Art in Brussels, and was part of the quartet while they were preparing for the Banff String Quartet Competition. In this last season, Ayaka performed at the Philharmonie de Paris in France, The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, the City Hall in Hong Kong, and many other significant venues for their 10th anniversary. The quartet is currently the Ensemble-in-Residence of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and they held a residency at Musique à Flaine in France in 2023.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Ayaka received her training at the Toho Gakuen Music High School and the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo under the guidance of Yoshiharu Kubo. She then continued her studies in Europe with Marc Danel at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon (CNSMD Lyon) in France and at the Institut royal supérieur de musique et de pédagogie de Namur (L’IMEP) in Belgium. She has also studied and worked closely with Pierre Colombet, Lukas Hagen, Alexis Galpérine, Johannes Meissl, Sibbi Bernhardsson and members of the Danel, Doric, Modigliani, and Ysaÿe Quartets.

Ayaka has performed with acclaimed artists such as Sterling Elliott, Simone Gramaglia, Shannon Lee, Yovan Markovitch, Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Thorsten Johanns, and Timo-Veikko "Tipi" Valve among many others. Ayaka was a member of Quatuor Lysis before she joined the Cong Quartet, she also played in the Quatuor Danel in Finland and England, alongside soprano Virpi Räisänen and bandoneon player Juan José Mosalini in 2025.