HOLOS DUO
Violin & Cello Duo · Tallahassee, Florida
About the duo
2026
First Prize, Antonín Dvořák Classical Music Competition — Prague
2025
Debut album Dream Sequence, featured on WCTV and WFSU
Residency
Ensemble-in-residence with Sinfonia Gulf Coast
Holos Duo is a Tallahassee-based ensemble consisting of violinist Masayoshi Arakawa and cellist Thu Vo. Both members received their doctorates from Florida State University and have given several performances together throughout North Florida. In March 2026, the duo was named First Prize winner at the Antonín Dvořák Classical Music Competition in Prague, Czech Republic.
Committed to popularizing the violin-cello repertoire while expanding it through new commissions, Holos Duo introduced their first performance series, “Midday Melodies: A Folk Affair,” in May 2025. Each concert features folk music for violin and cello by classical composers alongside popular folk tunes. Since then, Holos Duo has given recitals at multiple venues in Tallahassee, including Longmire Recital Hall, East Hill Baptist Church, Tapestry Senior Living, Woodmont Senior Living, and Westminster Communities of Florida. They have also expanded their educational outreach through an ensemble-in-residence position with Sinfonia Gulf Coast, delivering interactive performances to elementary and middle schools in Destin.
In August 2025, the duo released their debut album, Dream Sequence, featuring duos by Erwin Schulhoff, Zoltán Kodály, and a new work by Isaac Villaroya. Each piece is shaped by the folk traditions of its composer. The album received positive feedback from professionals and was featured on WCTV and WFSU radio.
Both Vo and Arakawa received their professional training from Florida State University faculty Greg Sauer and Shannon Thomas, members of the Miami String Quartet, and The Cleveland Orchestra’s principal cellist Richard Weiss. In summer 2026, they served as guest artists and faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan.