One Night Only is a special concert featuring virtuoso Japanese mandolinist, composer, producer and conductor Masataka Hori and the Sydney Mandolin Orchestra. Masataka Hori is hailed as the most exciting and foremost genre spanning mandolinist in Japan.

Masataka studied mandolin, conducting, harmony and the theory of jazz and improvisation and is a highly respected musical educator. He has his own mandolin ensemble ‘EUPHORIA’, a jazz fusion band “Mandolicks’ and many recordings to his credit. He currently plays a custom built mandolin specifically designed to cater for all his demands and ideas without limitation.

With his spectacular technique and musical expression showing the full range of his talent on the mandolin, Masataka mesmerises audiences with self-composed pieces and works by Italian mandolin virtuoso, composer, and luthier Raffaele Calace. For this concert he will perform the following solo works:

Raffaele Calace Preludio 2

Raffaele Calace Preludio 10

Masataka Hori Introduktion und Allegro

Hermeto Pascoal Chorinho pra ele

Sydney Mandolin Orchestra (SMO) will accompany Masataka for the delightful mandolin concerto by Italian Baroque composer Domenico Gaudioso.

SMO is a rare 25 plus piece plucked string orchestra of mandolins, mandolas, mandocello, classical guitars, double bass and percussion. Founded in 1932, SMO is Australia’s longest continuously running mandolin orchestra. Directed and conducted by Werner Ruecker, the orchestra performs classical, romantic and contemporary mandolin and guitar orchestral music at its finest with regular concerts in Sydney and surrounds.

As an ensemble, SMO uses all techniques available to it thus creating an incredibly wide and exciting array of sounds and colours which is sure to transport you through its eclectic repertoire of music from around the world.

"It is self-evident that he will create fresh ripples not only in the mandolin world but across the wider musical landscape."

― Shin-ichiro Ikebe (Composer)

"With a limpid, vibrant tremolo that weaves dreamlike colors, Masaki Hori pursues the mandolin to its limits and embraces borderless music, drawing a richly resonant chronicle."

― Daisuke Suzuki (Guitarist)

Masataka Hori made his CD debut in 2009 with Universal Music. Since then, he has been active internationally as a soloist, appearing at major festivals and concerts including Rencontres Pince-Cordes 2011 (France), Kobe International Music Festival 2013, and the Suntory Foundation for the Arts Summer Festival 2015.

In 2018 and 2022, he toured Australia with mimi duo (Guitar: Duncan Gardiner / Piano: Setsu Masuda), receiving enthusiastic acclaim from local media. In December 2021, he was invited to give a recital as part of the 10th Anniversary Reconstruction Project commemorating the Great East Japan Earthquake in Kesennuma City. In 2023, he was invited as a guest artist to the convention of the Classical Mandolin Society of America, where he presented mandolin and mandoloncello recitals and workshops, and premiered a newly commissioned work by the En Masse Mandolin Orchestra.

He is also actively engaged in chamber music with non-mandolin instruments. As one of his principal artistic collaborations, the duo with Mariko Takahashi (Vc.), with whom he has performed continuously since 2016, was named Dolcemani in 2025 and appeared at the HOKUTOPIA International Music Festival 2025.

Alongside his classical activities, Hori actively explores the expressive potential of the electric mandolin through fusion-based performances. His album Xanadu (released December 2021), produced by Kiyomi Otaka, presents a dynamic and highly original sound world, and was praised by Jazz Life magazine as "a truly unique sound unlike anything else" and as the emergence of a "real two-way player" capable of expressing new possibilities for the mandolin at the highest level in both classical and jazz contexts.

He serves as Concertmaster of the Philharmonica Mandolini Alba Sapporo (2026–) and is represented by MUSIC NEO Sound Terrace Inc.

Hori is the founder and artistic director of Mandolin Ensemble EUPHORIA (since 2013) and the Tokyo Euphonik Mandolin Orchestra (since 2020), for which he conducts and provides arrangements and compositions. As a producer, he has curated concert series such as Il Mandolino Giapponese – Another Italian Culture (2015–2019) and Mandolin Terrarium (since 2022).

He has supervised the S-H Series for Ochiai Mandolins and the MANDOLINSPIRITS pick series by K-LICKS, and is an endorser of OPTIMA Strings. He serves as an instructor for the Japan Super Youth Mandolin Orchestra, musical director of the Mandolin Clubs at Dokkyo University and Meiji University Meiji Junior & Senior High School, and as a jury member for the JGA Music Festival. His publications include Strategic Approaches to Mandolin Performance, Vols. 1 & 2 (Rydia Shoten).

In recent years, he has further broadened his educational activities by giving masterclasses overseas.

Hori studied mandolin, conducting, and harmony with Takashi Kubota. As a 2011 Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Fellow, he studied in Saarbrücken, Germany, where he also studied mandolin with Juan-Carlos Muñoz. He later studied jazz theory and improvisation with Kiyomi Otaka.

Awards include First Prize at the 10th Raffaele Calace International Mandolin Competition (2014), among others.