The Japanese–American violinist is one of four artists to join the roster
The Concert Artists Guild (CAG) has announced four artists that will be joining its roster. They are violinist Keila Wakao, guitarist Hao Yang, conductor Paul-Boris Kertsman and the Nois Saxophone Quartet.
Born in 2006 in Boston, MA, US, Wakao made her solo debut with orchestra at the age of nine. She is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree at the New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried and has previously studied with Joseph Silverstein and Donald Weilerstein, as well as with Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program.
The signing follows a string of successes, as this year Wakao has won CAG’s Louis and Susan Meisel Prize, first prize at the National Schadt String Competition and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has previously won first prize at the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition’s junior division and the 2021 Stulberg International String Competition, the 2023 Aoyama Music Foundation Award for Emerging Artists, the 2024 Next Generation distinguished Cultural Achievement Award from Boston’s Japan Society, as well as a Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant in 2023.
Wakao performs on the 1690 ‘Theodor’ Stradivari violin on loan. Among her upcoming engagements, she will tour Taiwan and Japan with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Yun Janice Lu, performing Shostakovich’s Piano Trio no. 2.
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