Saori Kataoka

Biography

A native of Tokushima, Japan, Saori Kataoka pursues a career as a trumpet player, a researcher, and a teaching artist. She is the first Brass instrument player to win the Krannert Debut Artist Competition in its 36 years of history and will be giving her solo recital at the Foellinger Great Hall (TBD due to COVID19). During the summer of 2020, she participated remotely in Festival Young Artist Bayreuth (Germany) and Lake George Music Festival (USA). Earlier the same year, she was awarded Distinction in the Professional Wind Instrument Division at the 2^nd Vienna International Music Competition. She had also been a semifinalist at the Roger Voisin Memorial Trumpet Competition and National Trumpet Competition (USA), as well as the 4^th winner at the Junior Classical Music Competition in Japan. She was a trumpet fellow of the Orchestra of the Americas in the 2018 European Tour. She has performed with Sinfonia Da Camera, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Danville Symphony Orchestra, and Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra.

Saori joined the School of Music at Illinois State University as an Adjunct Instructional Assistant Professor in Fall 2020. She is currently pursuing her second Master of Music Degree, this time in Jazz, with Graduate Minors in Dance and Global Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. An advocate of new music, she has taken a part of Sara Hook’s choreographic production “Cedar Closet” where her improvisational conversation with Chip McNeil was featured, presented Mid-West Première of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Trumpet Concertino in her Master’s Recital, and been an active member of Illinois Modern Ensemble. During her time at Illinois, she has been featured for the performances of Aaron Copland’s Quiet City with the UI Chamber Orchestra and Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets with the Illini Strings. She holds MM in Trumpet Performance and Literature from UIUC and BA in Music Area with a Certificate in Jazz from Campbellsville University, Kentucky. While in Campbellsville, she was awarded International Education Award, Alumni Association Talent Award, and Outstanding ESL Graduate Award. Her primary teachers include Tito Carrillo, Charles Daval, Ronald Romm, Anne McNamara, and Reese Land.

Saori is also a passionate Awa Odori dancer, a folk dance from her hometown. She envisions to bring people together with the power of arts to celebrate the beauty of our differences and make harmony.