Tomoko Akasaka is a versatile violist internationally acclaimed for her exceptional sound quality, expressive power, and stage presence, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including First Prize at the 12th International Japan Classical Music Competition and Third Prize at the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 2004.

As a soloist, she has performed with leading orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Estonian Chamber Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic, the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. She has collaborated with conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Domingo Garcia Hindoyan, Johannes Kalitzke, Douglas Boyd, Michal Kaluza, Kazuki Yamada, Roman Kofman, and Günther Herbig.

A highly sought-after chamber musician, she has appeared with artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Emmanuel Pahud, Daniel Hope, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ray Chen, and Philippe Jaroussky, as well as with ensembles including the Quatuor Ébène, the Jerusalem Quartet, and the Kuss Quartett. She has been a guest at major international festivals such as the Verbier Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Lockenhaus Festival, the Kissinger Sommer, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Kronberg Festival, the Schubertiade, and many others.

A special focus of her artistic work is collaboration with contemporary composers. In this context, she has worked regularly with György Kurtág and Toshio Hosokawa.

Tomoko Akasaka has performed in renowned concert halls including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Tonhalle Zurich, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall London, the Konzerthaus and Philharmonie Berlin, Schloss Elmau, Suntory Hall Tokyo, and Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich.

In recent years, her recitals in Switzerland, France, Poland, Italy, Germany, and Japan have received the highest critical acclaim. Her concert series in Tokyo was broadcast nationwide on Japanese television (NHK).

As a dedicated pedagogue, she regularly serves as a jury member at international competitions such as the Concours de Genève, the International Max Rostal Competition at the Berlin University of the Arts, and at the Kronberg Academy.

She studied at the Conservatoire de Genève with Nobuko Imai, whom she also assisted. Her teaching appointments have included positions at the conservatories in Düsseldorf and Leipzig, as well as a guest professorship at the Conservatory of Neuchâtel. Since 2019, Tomoko Akasaka has been Professor of Viola at the Münster University of Music.