Keila Wakao

Keila Wakao made her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut for the BSO’s Opening Night Gala concert in September 2024 under Andris Nelsons, in a concert also featuring world-renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and pianists Lang Lang and Gina Alice Redlinger.

 

Keila Wakao won First Prize in the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition Junior Division and 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 was awarded the Aoyama Music Foundation Award in Japan for upcoming artists. She also won 1st prize in the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, where she performed alongside the BSO and Thomas Wilkins in the BSO Family Concerto in October 2023, and is 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 also featured on CBS Boston’s television news. ​

 

Born in 2006, Keila Wakao is from Chestnut Hill, MA, and began playing the violin at age 3. Former BSO concertmaster Joseph Silverstein accepted her as a student when she was 6 years old. From age 9, she has been a student of Donald Weilerstein. She worked with Itzhak Perlman and participated in the Perlman Music Program in summers 2018-2022. Currently, she is completing her first year at the New England Conservatory as a Starling Foundation Full Scholarship recipient and a student of Miriam Fried. She was also accepted to Harvard College, and has deferred her first year of enrollment.

 

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 Cadogan Hall (London), Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), Jordan Hall (Boston), 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 Richmond, Reading, Eugene, Chattanooga, Adelphi, Kalamazoo, New Phil, Resound Collective, Baden-Baden, Boston Civic, Lexington, Tokyo Phil, and Boston symphony orchestras and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. In 2017, Keila was invited to speak and perform at TEDxBoston. ​

 

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