Asuka Sumi is a baroque violinist based in Leeds, West Yorkshire who is one of the busiest and most influential musicians and educators in the Northern early music scene. Asuka currently teaches the Baroque Ensemble course at University of York and performs regularly with Leeds Baroque as a leader, as well as Manchester Baroque, Newcastle Baroque and Baroque in the North. Asuka is also the founder of Otley Baroque concert series for which she invites up-and-coming musicians across the UK to her local and curates exciting programmes and projects since 2018.

Beyond Northern England, Asuka also enjoys performing across the world as a member of prominent orchestras in the UK and Europe such as Holland Baroque, Gabrieli Consort & Players, and the English Concert and performed under the baton of Herve Nique, Enrico Onofri, Sigiswalt Kuiken, Paul McCreesh and Harry Bicket.

With her ensembles and as a soloist, Asuka has been invited to prestigious venues and festivals such as the Sablé and Ambronay festivals in France, Göttingen and Hallé Handel Festival in Germany, Utrecht Early Music Festival, MA festival in Bruges and the Innsbruck Early Music Festival.

Asuka began to study historical performance on period instruments with Masaaki Suzuki and members of Bach Collegium Japan at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Subsequently, she studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Lucy van Dael and Sophie Gent where she obtained second master’s degree.

In 2013, Asuka won the International H.I.F. Biber Competition in Austria which led her to the debut recital at Vienna Konzerthaus. She is also the finalist of Premio Bonporti and the York Early Music Competition.