Kenichiro Matsuda, violist and native of Japan, came to the United States in 1977 after three and one-half years with the New Japan Philharmonic under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. Ken attended Northern Illinois University where he received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. His teachers include Nobuko Imai, Jerry Horner, and Shmuel Ashkenasi of the Vermeer Quartet. He was a member of the Grant Park Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic before he joined the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in 1987. Ken is also an active chamber music player. He has toured in Japan with the Columbus String Quartet (1988) and in Estonia with the Sonus Artis String Quartet in 1999. In January 2002, he played U.S. premiere of Penderecki's Sextet at the composer's presence. Ken is a founding member of the High Street Four String Quartet.
Besides playing with the CSO and "High Street Four" String Quartet, his musical interest expands to conducting and teaching. He was the conductor of the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra of Columbus from 1989 to 1996. Ken has been the director of the "Hanamizuki no Kai", Japanese Women's Chorus since 1995. He has been a conductor for the Ohio Wesleyan University Chamber Orchestra since 2002. He has taught Viola at Calvin College, Denison University, and the Ohio State University. He has had master classes on viola and orchestral repertoire at the College Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati, the Ohio University, and the Ohio State University. Currently, Ken is a visiting Assistant Professor of Viola at Ohio University, Athens. Since 1997, he has been a member of the string faculty at Csehy Summer School of Music in Langhorne, PA. In the summer of 2003, he also taught at Master Works Festival in Winnona Lake, IN. He plays a viola made by Tetsuo Matsuda of Chicago, 1998.
Ken is an avid table tennis player and loves to eat sushi.