Clarinetist MAIKO SASAKI began her studies at the age of seven. Ms. Sasaki holds a Bachelor and Master of Music from Japan’s finest music school, Tokyo National University of Music and Fine Arts. She has received numerous awards such as the Japan Classical Music Competition, the All Japan Soloist Competition, and “The Great Wall of China Cup” International Music Competition.

Ms. Sasaki has given many recitals as well as chamber music concerts in Japan and the United States. She is also active as a period instrument (five-keyed clarinet) player. She serves as principal clarinetist of Orchestra Symposion (Tokyo) since 1998 and is a founding member of a woodwind octet, Ensemble Kaleidoscope. She has toured with Anner Bylsma, a baroque cellist, and the Bach Collegium Japan.
           
In 2004, Ms. Sasaki came to United States to expand her musical experience. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Rice University with Professor Michael Webster, a clarinetist, composer and conductor. She performed the Clarinet Concerto by Alvin Etler with the Shepherd School Brass Ensemble in 2005. She has appeared in the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and often serves as principal clarinetist of the Shepherd School Symphony and Chamber Orchestra under conductors such as Larry Rachleff and Itzhak Perlman.
           
2006 is a turning point for her career. Ms. Sasaki performed the Clarinet Concerto by Carl Nielsen with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the Concerto Competition and also the Duett-Concertino by Richard Strauss with Benjamin Kamins, former principal bassoonist in Houston Symphony. Ms. Sasaki was invited to Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to perform for Performing Arts’ Conservatory Project as a representative of the Shepherd School of Music. This performance is broadcasted on their website. (http://www.kennedy-center.org) Last summer, Ms. Sasaki received the Presser Award, a grant for musician’s summer travel and study, and attended two music camps in Canada, Domain Forget and Orford Music Academy where she worked with world known clarinetists such as Larry Combs, Michael Collins and Richard Stoltzman. As a consequence, she won the first prize at the International Clarinet Association Orchestral Audition Competition.