Meg Okura (born August 9, 1973) is an American jazz violinist,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...

player, and leader of the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She is also a member of the band

Pharaoh's Daughter Pharaoh's Daughter is an American Jewish world music band from New York City. Formed in 1995 by Basya Schechter, their music is a mix of American folk, Jewish klezmer, and Middle Eastern sounds. Schechter is currently a member of the alte ...

, Emilio Solla y La Inestable de Brooklyn, which was nominated for the 57th

Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album The Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works (songs or albums) in the Latin jazz ...

, and New York Tango Quartet, among others. She has worked with jazz and pop artists such as

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...

Dianne Reeves Dianne Elizabeth Reeves (born October 23, 1956) is an American jazz singer. Biography Dianne Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a musical family. Her father sang, her mother played trumpet, her uncle is bassist Charles Burrell, and h ...

Steve Swallow Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...

Tom Harrell Tom Harrell (born June 16, 1946) is an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, and arranger. Voted Trumpeter of the Year of 2018 by ''Jazz Journalists Association'', Harrell has won awards and grants throughout his career, including mul ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

and Mariko Takahashi as well as actor/musician

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films ''Dead Presidents'' and '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles ...

. Okura has also been the featured violinist in the

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

shows

Varekai Varekai was a Cirque du Soleil touring production that premiered in Montréal in April 2002. Its title means "wherever" in the Romani language, and the show is an "acrobatic tribute to the nomadic soul". The show begins with the Greek myth of Ica ...

Corteo Corteo is a Cirque du Soleil touring production that premiered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on April 21, 2005. As of May 24, 2005, Cirque du Soleil had broken its record of spectators for the première location in Montreal; more than 200,000 p ...

and

Wintuk ''Wintuk'' (pronounced ''win-took''; amalgamating the English word "winter" with Inupiaq phonetics) was a semi-permanent and seasonal residency show created by Cirque du Soleil. ''Wintuk'' played seasonally from 2007 to 2011 at the former WaMu T ...

Early life

Meg Okura (大倉恵, born in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

), started studying music at

Toho Gakuen School of Music is a private music school in Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. History Toho Gakuen was founded in 1948 in Ichigaya (Tokyo) as the Music School for Children, and two years later moved to Sengawa (current address at Wakabacyo, Chofushi, Tokyo) and opened t ...

at five. As a child, she served as a church pianist and organist at an Evangelical church in her home town of Ome. In the early 1990s, Meg Okura toured Asia as the concertmaster and soloist of the

Asian Youth Orchestra The Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO) is a youth orchestra composed of musicians from several Asian countries. It was founded by Yehudi Menuhin and Richard Pontzious in 1987, and its first concert took place in August 1990, conducted by Menuhin. Current ...

. In 1992, she made her U.S. solo debut with the late

Alexander Schneider Abraham Alexander Schneider (October 21, 1908 – February 2, 1993) was a violinist, conductor and educator. Born to a Jewish family in Vilnius, Lithuania, he later moved to the United States as a member of the Budapest String Quartet. Early li ...

and the New York String Orchestra at

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington D.C. She has earned bachelor's and master's degrees from

The Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

as a classical violinist.

Personal life

Meg Okura has been married to American jazz soprano saxophonist and composer

Sam Newsome Sam Newsome (born April 28, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator. His music combines straight-ahead jazz, world music (drawing influences from North Africa and East Asia) and experimental jazz, which uses extended techni ...

since 2004.

Honors and awards

Chamber Music America Chamber Music America (CMA) is an American non-profit organization that provides small ensemble professionals with access to a variety of professional development, networking, and funding resources. CMA's regular initiatives include grants, awards, ...

New Jazz Works – 2018 The

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

, 2015 (Nominee) Manhattan Community Arts Fund (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council)- 2013 & 2015 New Music USA Project Grant (New Music USA)- 2014 Brand Personality Award, The BrandLaureate Asia Pacific Brands Foundation)- 2012 Meet the Composer, Metlife Creative Connections Grant – 2008 Manhattan Community Art fund (LMCC)- 2008 American Composers Forum, Jerome Composers Commissioning Program- 2007–2008

Meet the Composer New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media progra ...

, Metlife Creative Connections Grant Urban Artist Initiative / NYC – 2006 2005 International Songwriting Competition (Honorable Mention) 2005 American University Saxophone Symposium Composition Contest (Honorable Mention) The 2003 John Lennon Songwriting Contest (Honorable Mention) The 2000 John Lennon Songwriting Contest (Honorable Mention)

Discography

As A Leader *IMA IMA by Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble (2018) – featuring

*NPO Trio Live at The Stone (2018) *Las Vegas Tango (2013) *Music of

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...

by Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble (2013) *Naima (Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble) (2010) *Meg Okura's Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble (2006) *Be Thou My Vision (Life Music Japan) *Peace In My Heart (Life Music Japan)(1998) *Never Alone (Life Music Japan)(2000)

References

CD Universe

All Music

External links

Official website

Chording to Meg Blogspot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okura, Meg Japanese violinists Japanese women violinists Living people 1973 births Musicians from Tokyo Juilliard School alumni Musicians from New York City Chamber jazz musicians Pharaoh's Daughter members 21st-century violinists People from Ōme, Tokyo