Shinsuke Hashimoto

Shinsuke Hashimoto was born in Kagawa, Japan. While still a student, he first became a member of the SIENA Wind Orchestra and later served as principal clarinetist with the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra. In 1995, he received a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation and continued his studies at the Lübeck University of Music, where he studied clarinet with Sabine Meyer and chamber music and orchestral studies with Reiner Wehle. He completed his postgraduate studies with distinction.

Since then, he has regularly appeared as guest principal clarinetist with renowned Japanese orchestras. Between 1992 and 2016, he appeared several times as a soloist with the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra in subscription concerts, performing clarinet concertos by Mozart, Weber, and others. In 2017, he performed Weber’s Clarinet Concerto with the Chubu Philharmonic in a subscription concert.

For his musical achievements, he was awarded the 30th Cultural Promotion Award of the Hiroshima Prefecture.

Hashimoto has appeared on numerous recordings, including with the Hiroshima Clarinet Ensemble, which he founded, in productions such as Thanatos, Csardas, and The Passage in the Dawn (all produced by Brain Co. Ltd.), as well as with the Nagoya Clarinet Ensemble in the Ensemble Collection (produced by Teeda Publishing).

He has also been active in media production: as a producer at Television Shin Hiroshima, he contributed to the program 100 Sights of Hiroshima and recorded more than 900 musical pieces for studio recordings and TV commercials.

He regularly serves as a juror at various competitions, including those of the Japan Clarinet Association, the KOBE International Clarinet Competition, the Japan Wind and Percussion Competition, and the Japan Woodwind Competition. As an educator, he is engaged in numerous masterclasses and workshops and serves as a jury member at the All Japan Band Competition. International engagements have taken him as a soloist and lecturer to Korea (2007), China (2017), Taiwan (2019), and Hong Kong (2024).

Currently, Shinsuke Hashimoto is Professor at the Nagoya College of Music, as well as Lecturer at the Elisabeth University of Music and the music department of Meiwa High School. He is also a Yamaha Official Clarinet Artist, a board member of the Japan Clarinet Association, concertmaster of the Nagoya Academic Winds, leader of the Hiroshima Clarinet Ensemble, board member of Octbass, and a member of the Naniwa Orchestral Winds, the Meihan Clarinet Quartet, and the group CrazyClassix.