Takashi Shimizu was born in 1953, in Yokosuka, Japan. Having started playing the violin at the age of 6, he won the all-Japan violin competition just three years later. That same year, he made his television debut, playing with the NHK Symphony Orchestra for the wedding celebrations of H.I.M. Prince Hitachi. At 17, laureate of three national competitions, he was awarded a scholarship to study under Jasha Heifetz for three years, at the University of Southern California. In 1975, he won the 3rd prize in the Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris, and subsequently took 2nd prize in the 1978 Carl Flesch Competition (London), the 1st prize in Granada (1979) and then, the 3rd prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition (1980). He also studied at the Guildhall School of Music, with Yfrah Neaman. Takashi Shimizu is now combining a career as soloist with that of a teacher at the University of Fine Arts, Tokyo.