Boston String Players was named in honor of "Newbury String Players" formed by Gerald Finzi in South England in 1940. Founder/Artistic Director Motoki Tanaka's personal mission is to perform many of Finzi's works with Boston String Players.

Boston String Players has so far performed 18 pieces in five concerts in two years.

J.S. Bach / Brandenburg Concerto No.3

Samuel Barber / Adagio For Strings

Bela Bartok / Rumanian Folk Dances

Ernest Bloch / Concerto Grosso No1

Max Bruch / Kol Nidrei, soloist Nick Upton

Elliot T. Cless / Chaconne

Arcangelo Corelli / Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.9

Antonín Dvorak / Serenade For Strings

Edward Elgar / Serenade For Strings, Introduction And Allegro

Gerald Finzi / Prelude for String Orchestra, Romance for String Orchestra, Eclogue For Piano And Strings,

Edvard Grieg / Holberg Suite

George Frideric Handel /Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.12

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / Divertimento K136, Divertimento K138

Jean Sibelius / Andante Festivo

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Serenade For Strings

Apart from string ensemble performance, Boston String Players has many endeavors such as collaborating with artists of all genres such as photography and visual arts, outreach geared towards children and pre-college music students, bringing our music outside traditional venues to broader audiences, performing for other non-profit organizations such as the National Parkinson Foundation, and many others.
 

Boston String Players is a project that should last and grow in the wonderful city of Boston. This entire project is non-profit for artists, the musicians, nor we the organizers are getting a salary of any sort, and our concert is also free with suggested donation. In order to accomplish our missions, we need help and support from our community of friends and fellow patrons of the arts to secure space for the concert and rehearsals, advertising and publicity outreach, and provide basic services such as music stands, score, parts, transportation, program papers, website maintenance. Funding, donations, in-kind gifts, and volunteer work for BSP will be greatly appreciated.
 

For more information on how you can be a part of our success, please email BostonStringPlayers@gmail.com

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Motoki's mother Aya Tanaka, an amateur pianist, took him to a Suzuki Method violin school in Fukuoka, Japan, where he began his violin study at the young age four. When he was only eight years old, Motoki toured as the youngest soloist with the Suzuki group in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. He ha complete the entire Suzuki program before he turned twelve. He was a frequent guest soloist at workshops, master classes, and performances at the National Suzuki Method Conference in Nagano, Japan. In high school, Motoki led the Fukuoka Youth Orchestra as a concertmaster at the National High School Orchestra Competition for three years, where they won the grand prize in all three years.

Motoki attended University of North Texas in Denton, Texas from 2001-2004 and studied composition with Dr. Joseph Klein, violin performance with Dr. Igor Borodin, and conducting with Maestro Anshel Brusilow, as well as to pursue his dream of playing basketball professionally, his initial reason for coming to the United States. After his knee injury with no more hope of becoming the first Japanese born NBA player, Motoki came to Boston in 2004 to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he majored in Orchestral Conducting and Film Scoring. In the school known for its prestigious Jazz program, Motoki spent most of his time studying orchestral conducting with Maestro David Callahan building his repertoire. Motoki conducted many ensembles at Berklee College of Music, and often premiered new works by his fellow composers.

While earning Bachelor of Music degree in 2007, Motoki founded Boston String Players, an unique cross-college, non-profit, non-auditioned string ensemble, which consists of students, alumni, and faculties of Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory, University of Massachusetts Boston, and Tufts University. His mission with BSP is to create an opportunity for his fellow string players to perform music in a chamber ensemble setting while keeping the flexibility and spontaneity of string quartets, as well as to collaborate with artists outside of music field. The unique environment of -Athens of America- Boston has allowed him to bring together over a hundred of young musicians and art lovers of all background in two years so far. Motoki has been lead more than a hundred of talented and dedicated young musicians with his passion to perform music together, and to bring new and younger audience into the Classical Music scene.

Motoki is an active and celebrated solo, chamber, and orchestral violinist, as well a teacher and a coach. He currently teaches violin lessons at Suzuki Institute of Boston, where he shares his love for music with young children.