Takane Funatsu was born in Japan and started playing the violin at the age of four. Whilst studying at the Toho College¹ in Japan, she won an international violin competition in Spain and appeared as a soloist with the Orquesta Nacional de España, later leading the Pacific Music Festival in Japan under the baton of Leonard Bernstein². The following year she was invited to participate in the Tanglewood³ Music Festival in the US.

In 1991, Takane moved to England and attended the Advanced Solo Studies course at the Guildhall School⁴ of Music and Drama in London where she won a scholarship to study with David Takeno⁵. She has performed as a soloist with many orchestras. Her first solo performance in London was at the Barbican Hall playing Lutoslawski‘s⁶ “Chain II” with the composer conducting. In 1993, she was invited to a music festival in Jerusalem to study with Sándor Végh⁷. In 1994, she won a principal’s scholarship to work with the London Symphony Orchestra, followed by three month’s study at the Banff Arts Centre in Canada. Takane was co-leader in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra⁸ from 1997 to 2000, and a member of Ensemble Zellig in Paris between 2000 and 2003. She co-led the Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 2004 to 2010. Takane has played as a guest principal player for some of London’s finest orchestras including Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  She is the violinist for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s My Neighbour Totoro. She freelances with London Symphony Orchestra and as a principal with City of London Sinfonia, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s dance theatre orchestra. She visits schools on educational projects with the Apollo Music Project. She was a coach at the Pro Corda violin course in 2021.

You can also hear her playing on the Harry Potter films and the mobile game Angry Birds! She has performed in Britain, Europe, Canada, USA, Israel and Japan as a soloist and chamber musician, frequently leading and directing.

Takane organises fund-raising concerts and performances in schools, nurseries and retirement homes. She is also a “test pilot” for London-based violin maker Philip Ihle⁹. By feeding back on the quality of his new violins she helps him evaluate and fine-tune the sound of his violins at the final stage in the making process.

She lives in North London with her husband and three children (see them on YouTube playing to thank NHS during pandemic in 2020).