Meg Okura - Composer, Jazz Violinist & Erhu Player

Composer, violinist and erhu player Meg Okura is one of the leading voices in today’s chamber jazz scene, directing the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, while performing extensively with some of the biggest names in music. Her versatility has led her to perform with Michael Brecker, David Bowie, Lee Konitz, Diane Reeves, Steve Swallow, and many others. She has been heard as a soloist all over the world on TV, at festivals, concert halls, stadiums and arenas including Carnegie Hall, Barbican Hall, Kennedy Centre, Hollywood Bowl, MGM Grand Garden Arena, as well as received over a dozen grants and awards both as a composer and violinist. Her credit appears on over three-dozen recordings as violinist, erhu player, composer, arranger, or vocalist.

Meg earned B.M. and M.M. from the Juilliard School as a classical violinist, only to make the difficult shift to jazz violin upon graduation. Her talent and flexibility landed her a few small gigs in L.A., including a concertmaster chair backing up for Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, Terence Blanchard, conducted by Quincy Jones, Jerry Goldsmith, and Jack Elliot. She has also toured with the Cirque du Soleil’s “Varekai” as the featured violinist. Back in New York, she performed with artists as diverse as Mary J. Blige, David Bowie, Michael Brecker, Sarah Brightman, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Ziggy Marley, Lee Konitz, Lenny Kravitz, Lou Reed, Alexander Schneider, Steve Swallow, Tony Visconti and Kanye West. As a composer, she has written numerous works for the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, as well as films, documentaries and modern dance.

Meg Okura started her violin and piano lessons at four in Ome, a small town in Tokyo. By age six, she was playing the piano and organ for the local church, while receiving intensive musical training at Toho School where, barely in her teens, she became one of the top students and was the youngest winner of the Young Musicians' Debut Audition in Tokyo in 1990. At seventeen, Meg was invited to take the prestigious concertmaster chair in the Asian Youth Orchestra, leading one hundred of the finest young musicians from nine countries and touring all of Asia. The following year, Ms. Okura was invited back as a soloist to tour with the orchestra, under the baton of the great American composer Lukas Foss. Meg Okura made her US debut at the Kennedy Center as a soloist with the late Alexander Schneider’s New York String Orchestra, settled in New York City where she was the concertmaster of the Juilliard Opera Orchestra.

In 2005, Meg Okura founded the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, one of the leading world chamber jazz ensembles in New York City. The ensemble features shinobue (traditional Japanese bamboo flute) and erhu (traditional Chinese violin) as well as instruments typically associated with classical music such as flute, violin, cello, piano and percussion, while incorporating music from her native country Japan, and from around the world. Their self-title debut album, “Meg Okura’s Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble” was one of the “Best Album” finalists in the 6th Independent Music Awards, and has received critical acclaim. Since then, the ensemble has made over thirty public appearances including the NYC Winter JazzFest 2008 at the Knitting Factory, the Asian New Year Celebration at Kumble Theater, and Asian Leaders Conference at MoMA.

For the past seven years, Okura has been giving workshops, masterclasses and lecture concerts at the Lincoln Center’s Kaplan Penthouse for the Meet the Artist School Program. Her most recent school program called “Cool Connections To Classics” explores classical music through the medium of films and television. Students are invited to create a new original score with Ms. Okura and her trio to an existing film, tapping into their imagination and creativity. This summer, Okura is returning to Puerto Rico to give improvisation clinics at Martin Goldman’s Suzuki School.

Meg Okura’s Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble is making its Japan debut in June.

Meg Okura Composer, Erhu player, Jazz Violinist