Sho Kitagawa was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1984. His grandfather is Go Kitagawa who spread Russian folk songs to Japan after WWll was over. His father, Tsutomu Kitagawa, was the first balalaika player in Japan. Sho grew up surrounded by Russian instruments such as the balalaika and domra,and gave his first performance on a stage at age seven. He studied abroad in Russian national Rostov Memorial Music School in memory of Rachmaninoff. In 2008, he won the first prize as the first Asian in the Russian competition of “International Russian Folk Music Competition”. His performance was highly praised there. He has been an active professional balalaika performer in Japan since then. In 2009, he established Kitagawa Memorial Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra. He serves as conductor, and is also an arranger.
