Cellist Atsushi Sakai is equally adept in Baroque music, contemporary music, and jazz. In his solo recitals, Sakai has often appeared with Christophe Rousset and Marion Martineau. Sakai began to pursue what was already a longstanding interest in the early cello and the viola da gamba and quickly found places performing in continuo groups for such leading Baroque chamber music ensembles as Les Talens Lyriques and Le Concert d'Astrée. Sakai founded two ensembles, the viol consort Sit Fast and the Quatuor Cambini-Paris, devoted to performing late 18th century music on period instruments. The latter group recorded Mozart's Six Quartets Dedicated to Haydn in 2015. He also plays contemporary music, often performing B.A. Zimmermann's cello sonata on tour and collaborating with composer Bernard Cavanna. In 2016, Sakai, Rousset, and Martineau released an album of suites by Antoine Forqueray, and in 2021, issued Marin Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre I.