Pianist Akiko Yamazaki has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician in venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She made her orchestral debut with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra as a recipient of the Benjamin Kilgore Gibbs award in 2004. She has appeared as a guest artist at universities including Utah State University, and University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with the members of the North Carolina Symphony and the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At A Symposium for 21st Century Musicians, she gave the world premiere performance of Matthew Orlovich’s Dawn Rhapsody with violinist Karen Galvin. As a pedagogue, she is active as a presenter, adjudicator, and master class clinician.

Akiko is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, under the tutelage of John Salmon for piano, and Andrew Willis for harpsichord and fortepiano. Her study is generously supported by the Excellence Fellowship. Her doctoral dissertation “Pedagogical and Performance Guide of Lera Auerbach’s Images from Childhood, Op. 52” combines her passion for teaching with interests in women composers, contemporary works, and Russian music. She holds a MM from Northwestern University and a BM with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her primary teachers include James Giles and Mayron Tsong. She has been on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill International Chamber Music Workshop, and UNCG Summer Music Camp.

The UNCG Symphony Orchestra is a highly select ensemble of approximately ninety performers majoring in music. Performers include undergraduates through masters and doctoral candidates in music performance and music education. Membership in the organization is highly competitive, and all students are placed by audition. Members of the Symphony have achieved numerous individual honors including solo competition awards on regional and national levels, music scholarships, undergraduate teaching fellowships, graduate assistantships and fellowships, and membership in honors ensembles.

The UNCG Symphony Orchestra periodically tours the state and region, and has recently performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem, NC. A recent review in the Classical Voice of North Carolina described the Orchestra’s performance as, “dramatic and incisive,” and “beautifully done.”

In addition to the performances of standard orchestral literature, the Symphony Orchestra collaborates annually with the UNCG choirs to present a major choral/orchestral work. Faculty, as well as winners of the annual Student Artist Competition, are often featured as soloists. The Symphony combines with the School of Music Opera Theatre and the UNCG School of Theatre to perform a fully staged opera production each spring semester. String performers who are not majoring in music are especially encouraged to participate.

The Sinfonia is dedicated to broadening the artistic performance level of its members while presenting programs that encompass a wide range of styles, from Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras. Faculty members are frequently featured as guest soloists, and the Sinfonia has performed several world premieres and collaborated with students from the UNCG Department of Dance on recent performances. For non-music majors, the Sinfonia provides a musical outlet while studying in another discipline. Membership is determined by audition for music majors, and additionally is open to talented university students who are preparing for life-long involvement in the arts without audition.