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AYAKO SUGAYA is a member of the first violin section of Pacific Symphony.

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She came directly to the orchestra after completing her Undergraduate and Graduate Diploma at New England Conservatory (NEC) in Boston. While studying at NEC, Ms. Sugaya was regularly acting as a teaching assistant of Masuko Ushioda, a winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition and a protégé of legendary violinist, Joseph Szigeti. She also served as a concertmistress for NEC Symphony Orchestra including the performance of Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 with Sir Simon Rattle.

Upon reception of her Graduate Diploma, she received the Distinction in Performance award.

Ms. Sugaya has received fellowships and principal positions for many prestigious music festival orchestras, including Tanglewood Music Center, USA and the Schelswig-Holstein Music Festival, Germany. In addition, she was also selected to perform regularly with the Gardner Chamber Orchestra, a resident orchestra of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Mass. In 1995, she won the Japanese American Association Music Award which led her to a debut recital at Merkin Concert Hall in New York.
 

Ms. Sugaya was a member of the Colorado Music Festival 2008-2015.

She also received her Violin Performance degree from Toho High School of Music, the most prestigious conservatory in Japan.

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A member of America Federation of Musicians and American String Teacher's Association

http://www.pacificsymphony.org/the_performers/meet_the_musicians/musician/ayako-sugaya

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STUDENTS' ACHIEVEMENTS;

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My main focus is to help students achieve their goals, being accepted to colleges using music as a hook. They may not become music major, but still love playing the violin. I think it is wonderful for students and parents that the music education and experience can help them to be appealing to their dream colleges. 

 

My former students have been accepted to; Stanford, Yale, Brown, University of Chicago as well as music conservatories.

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While studying with me, students have won numerous orchestra auditions for concertmaster and principal positions with California All-State Honors Orchestra, All-Southern California Honors Orchestra, Irvine Unified School District Honors Orchestra, as well as the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra and Pacific Symphony Santiago Strings.

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Many students are awarded Grand Prize and 1st place at solo competitions such as Southwestern Youth Music Festival, Musical Arts Competition of Orange County and Satori Strings Contest.

They have also been accepted to the prestigious youth music camps such as Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and Domaine Forget International Music Academy in Quebec, Canada.