Nigel Kennedy

Three decades after he dismayed his Juilliard teachers by sharing a stage with Stéphane Grappelli at Carnegie Hall, Nigel Kennedy hasn't lost his appetite for maverick gestures – or his mohawk. The violinist's first trip to Japan in five years sees him reprise a formula that he successfully tried out at the Proms last year, with a program combining the disparate music of JS Bach and Fats Waller. Kennedy will start off by tackling the Baroque composer's technically demanding 'Sonata No.2 in A minor', then delve into the back catalogue of influential jazz pianist (and Bach fan) Waller, in a quartet consisting of Jarek Smietana, Yaron Stavi and Krzysztof Dziedzic.