In an international career which began in 1954, Tsutsumi has performed and recorded all of the principal standard works in the cello repertoire, both solo and concerto.
Tsutsumi’s father was a versatile player of the violin, viola and cello and also played double bass in the Tokyo Radio Philharmonic.
1 with the Tokyo Philharmonic and at 18 he gave his first concert tour as soloist with the NHK Symphony Orchestra throughout India, Russia and Europe.
He participated in festivals such as the Algoma Fall, Banff, Guelph Spring, Ontario Place, and Stratford in Canada, and the Ravinia in the United States.
On 24 October 1974, Tsutsumi appeared with a Japanese combined orchestra which included the Toho Gakuen School of Music Orchestra and members of the Japan Philharmonic with conductor Seiji Ozawa and violist Nobuko Imai in a world-wide telecast (carried on the PBS television network in the U.S.) from the United Nations building in New York City.
[17] Tsutsumi gave the world premiere of the Takemitsu work in 1984 in Paris with the Japan Philharmonic conducted by Tadaaki Otaka.
In October 1990 he performed it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa in honour of Takemitsu's 60th birthday.
[19] On 17 June 1981, Tsutsumi performed the Antonín Dvořák Cello Concerto with the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Heinz Wallberg.
In October 1985, Tsutsumi was soloist with the NHK Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City performing the Antonín Dvořák Cello Concerto.
[25] In 1988 Tsutsumi performed the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata for cello and piano with pianist Hiroko Nakamura in Tokyo.
[32] On 1 June 2024 Tsutsumi performed Beethoven cello/piano sonatas at Suntory Hall in Tokyo with pianist Michie Koyama.
[33] Tsutsumi was with Western University in London, Ontario, Canada from 1967 to 1984 as Assistant Professor and Resident Artist.
[43][44] One of his Korean students, Hayoung Lee, won 1st place at the 2019 David Popper International Cello Competition.
While at the Western University Faculty of Music in the 1970s, he founded Quartet Canada[50] together with his Western colleagues violinist Steven Staryk, pianist Ronald Turini and violist Gerald Stanick[51] with whom he recorded and performed many of the standard repertoire compositions for piano quartet.
[61] Prominent reviewer Tully Potter described this recording as "a favourite version, by the great Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and the Czech Philharmonic under Zdenek Kosler...their rhythms are...precise and their changes of tempo are organic and convincing.
[73] Tsutsumi remarked that "I believe that musical art is the common property of mankind and can serve as the foundation for building peace in the world.