An award-winning cellist and California Lutheran University music lecturer will present a faculty recital on Saturday, March 4.

Yoshika Masuda will perform a captivating selection of works written for cello and piano spanning three centuries at 7:30 p.m. in Samuelson Chapel on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Masuda has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Sydney Opera House, the Dai-ichi Seimei Hall in Tokyo and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. A keen advocate of contemporary music, he presented the world premieres of works by Nick Strimple, Xander Rodzinski and Bent Sørensen.

The cellist took first place in the 40th Midland-Odessa National Young Artist Competition in Texas, the 25th Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition and the 11th All-Japan Viva Hall Cello Competition. He received the prestigious Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe String Award in 2010.

Masuda is a founding member of the cello quintet SAKURA, whose performances were described by the Los Angeles Times as “brilliant” and “superb.”

Born in Kobe, Japan, Masuda moved to Australia after the 1995 earthquake destroyed his family’s house. He began playing the cello at the age of 5 and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music with first-class honors and a master’s degree in music with distinction from the Royal Northern College of Music in England. He holds a doctorate in musical arts from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where he studied with the legendary cellist Ralph Kirshbaum.

The chapel is located at 165 Chapel Lane. Additional parking is available in the lots at the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard.

Donations will be accepted. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit CalLutheran.edu.