Ricreation d'Arcadia.

Ensemble Ricreation d’Arcadia was formed in 2001 by four young leading Japanese musicians (Ayako Matsunaga and Yukie Yamaguchi, violin, Takashi Kaketa, violoncello and Takashi Watanabe, harpsichord & organ) who regularly play with several baroque ensembles and orchestras in both Europe and Japan such as Bach Collegium Japan, La Venexiana, Il Giardino Armonico and Academia Montis Regalis. The group’s aim is to explore the diverse instrumental music and vocal music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly focusing on the vast repertoire for the “trio sonata”. Since 2003, they have also taken part in the annual performances of the “Handel Festival Japan” in Tokyo as core members of the orchestra, conducted by Takashi Watanabe. Their diverse repertoire ranges from works by Monterverdi and Carlo Farina (Capriccio Stravagante, 1626) to Handel’s operas and even early Mozart's symphonies, joined by fellow musicians who share the same ideal.

In 2004, Ricreation d’Arcadia won the first prize at “Premio Bonporti” (President of Jury: Gustav Leonhardt) in Rovereto, Italy and also received the Audience prize and the ORF recording prize. Since 2005, they have been invited to several early music festivals in Europe, including Accademia Filarmonica (Bologna), Associazione Filarmonica (Rovereto), Amici della Musica, Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio, MITO Festival (Milan), Festival di Brezice (Slovenia), Festival Internationale di Musica Antica (Urbino), Grandezze & Meraviglie (Modena), Trento Musicantica (Trento), Nuove Settimane di Musica Barocca (Brescia). Their concerts have been received with universal acclaim.

In 2006, the ensemble performed with Gunar Letzbor in Mejiro Ba-Rock Music Festival in Tokyo. In 2007, they were invited to music festivals in Austria, including Internationale Barocktage Stift Melk, INNtöne Festival, Schlosskonzerte Eckartsau and Konzertreihe FIORI MUSICALI in St. Florian. In Mejiro Ba-Rock Music Festival 2007, they collaborated with Enrico Gatti and La Venexiana, which was filmed and broadcast by NHK. Some of their live concerts have also been broadcast by RAI and ORF. 

Future plans include performances of Biber’s complete Harmonia Artificioso-Ariosa, as well as trio sonatas by Locatelli, Caldara, Corelli, Leclair and C.P.E. Bach.