Taiko Saitō

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Taiko Saitō ( Japanese 齊藤 易 子 , Saitō Taiko ; * 1976 in Sapporo ) is a Japanese vibraphonist , marimba player and composer who is active in both the jazz and classical music scenes.

Live and act

Taiko began playing marimba at the age of six; later the piano and drums were added. For eight years she received lessons from the marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe . She studied at the Tōhō Music Academy in Tokyo and graduated as the first marimba soloist at the time with a diploma. In 1997 she began to deal with improvisation and composition. In 1998 she moved to Berlin to study with David Friedman at the University of the Arts . Rupert Stamm brought her to his vibraphone quartet Xylon in 2005 (with Tom van der Geld and Franz Bauer ). In 2006 she released her first album Koko together with the pianist Niko Meinhold on Pirouet Records . In 2017 she performed in the Trio Kokotob with Meinhold and the clarinetist Tobias Schirmer at the Nuremberg Vibraphonissimo Festival .

Saitō played with orchestras such as the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and the Orchester d'Auvergne. At the 5th International Shostakovich Days Gohrisch 2014 she was involved in the world premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's work “So be it” as a percussionist; the work appeared with chamber music works by Viktor Suslin in the same year on the album In Memoriam on BIS. She also belonged to various bands, such as Lunatique Asylum around Oliver Potratz , with whom she performed internationally. She also works as a teacher at the New Music School Berlin.

Saito won first prize at the 3éme Concours International de Vibraphone Claude Giot , third prize at the World Marimba Competition, the NTT DoCoMo prize and first prize at the Berlin Jazz & Blues Award 2002.

Discographic notes

  • Taiko Saito / Niko Meinhold Koko Live in Bogota (2012)
  • Landscape (Norsk Musikforlag, 2008)
  • Taiko Saito / Rupert Stamm Mokoton (2007)
  • Kokotob: Flying Heart (2017)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meeting (Carina Prange)
  2. ↑ Taiko Saitō Trio Kokotob (BR-Klassik)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), May 10, 2017@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.br-klassik.de
  3. ↑ Vibraphonissimo
  4. ^ Sikorski press release
personal data
SURNAME Saitō, taiko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 齊藤 易 子 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese vibraphonist, marimba player and composer
DATE OF BIRTH 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Sapporo