Takashi Shimizu began studying the violin with S. Tokunaga at the age of 6 and then continued his studies with S. Sumi. He won the first prize in the All Japan Student Music Competition at the age of 10 and made his debut playing with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He also studied under Y. Yankelevich. Shimizu won three first prizes in Japanese competitions at the age of 17. In the following year, he went to the United States under a government program and studied under Jascha Heifetz at the University of Southern California. Shimizu followed Heifetz’s advice and studied under M. Auclair. Shimizu went to London then to study chamber music with Y. Neaman. In the meantime, he also studied with Yehudi Menuhin and Nathan Milstein.
Shimizu won prizes of many international competitions and was awarded the Grand Prix at the competition among the winners of international competitions at the Bordeaux Festival. Shimizu made his London debut with Yehudi Menuhin and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and thereafter went to play with major orchestras around the world.
Shimizu has performed with Orchestras, such as the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and others in the UK, National de Belgique, Brussels Philharmonic and others in Belgium, Stuttgart Philharmonic and others in Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy. In Eastern Europe, he has played with the State Symphony and Moscow Radio Symphony orchestras of Russia, George Enescu Philharmonic, Brasov Philharmonic and others in Romania, Sofia Philhaarmonic, Plovdiv Philharmonic and others in Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, Moldova and Montenegro.
In Asia he has performed with orchestras in China, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan. He played chamber music with Martha Argerich many times and also performed with Ivry Gitlis, Bruno Canino, Pavel Gililov, Yuri Bashmet, Mario Brunello, Alexander Rudin, Alexander Kniazev, Mischa Maisky, etc.
He served as a jury member for such competitions as Seoul International, International Isang Yun, China International, Singapore International, Queen Elisabeth, Tchaikovsky International, Tchaikovsky Young, Long-Thibaud Crespin, Joseph Joachim, Jean Sibelius, Jozsef Szigeti International, Bartok Wold, Euroasia International competitions, etc.
He received invitations to give masterclasses in 22 countries.