Keila Wakao

Keila Wakao made her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut at the BSO’s Season Opening Night Gala in September 2024 under the direction of Andris Nelsons. She was also invited to perform as the sole performer at the unveiling of Seiji Ozawa’s sculpture at Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood in July 2025, an event attended by members of Seiji Ozawa’s family, John Williams, and other distinguished guests. In November 2025, Keila premiered Bobby Ge’s Violin Concerto with Maestro David Allan Miller and the Albany Symphony. In January 2026, she recorded her debut album with Octavia Records, scheduled for release later in 2026.

 

Keila Wakao won First Prize at the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition Junior Division, along with the Composer Award for Outstanding Performance of a Commissioned Work, and was also awarded the Gold Medal and Bach Prize at the 2021 Stulberg International String Competition. In 2023, she received the Aoyama Music Foundation Award for Upcoming Artists in Japan and was named a recipient of Charlotte White’s Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant in New York. In 2024, she was awarded the Next Generation Distinguished Cultural Achievement Award from the Japan Society of Boston and was featured on CBS Boston television news.

 

Named a “VC Artist” by Violin Channel, Keila Wakao has performed as soloist and in recital throughout the United States, Japan, Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom in venues such as  Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall (Boston), Cadogan Hall (London), Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), and Carnegie Weill Recital Hall (New York City). She made her solo debut with an orchestra at age 9 and has since performed with ensembles including the Boston, Tokyo Philharmonic, Baden-Baden, Albany, Richmond, Eugene, Chattanooga, Adelphi, Kalamazoo, Resound Collective, and Reading symphony orchestras and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. In 2017, Keila was invited to speak and perform at TEDxBoston.

 

Born in 2006 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Keila Wakao began playing the violin at age three. Former BSO Concertmaster Joseph Silverstein accepted her as a student at age six, and from age nine she studied with Donald Weilerstein. She also worked with Itzhak Perlman and participated in the Perlman Music Program from 2018 to 2022. Keila is currently a second-year undergraduate student of Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory, where she is a recipient of the Starling Foundation Full Scholarship.

 

Keila plays on the 1690 Cremona “Theodor” Stradivarius violin, on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.