Ayaka Sato is a Japanese Euphonium soloist. She was born in 1992 in Kagawa, Japan, and began playing the euphonium at the age of 8. She received her professional musical training on this instrument since 2006. She studied under Yasushi Funahashi, Shuichi Murayama, Mitsuru Saito and Kaoru Tsuyuki at Takamatsu Daiichi High School and Tokyo University of the Arts. At Bern University of the Arts, she is studying with Prof. Thomas Rüedi, as a Master Specialized Music Performance “Soloist” from autumn 2018 as a scholar of the Rohm Music Foundation.
She has won numerous awards including winner in the 3rd International Lieksa Brass Week Euphonium Competition in Finland (2018), winner in the 32th Japan Wind and Percussion Competition in Japan (2015), the 2nd prize at the 2016 International Tuba Euphonium Conference Competition Artist Division in the USA, and the 2nd prize at the 9th Jeju International Brass and Percussion Competition in Korea(2014), among others.
After earning these prizes, she performed as a soloist in prestigious concerts in Japan. Some of the ensembles with which she was featured, include: Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Masahiro Ueno in Tokyo in 2017, Seto Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vasily Valitov in Kagawa in 2017, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ken Takaseki in Tokyo in 2016, Tokyo Geidai Wind Orchestra, conducted by Masaharu Yamamoto in Chicago and Tokyo in 2015.
She is a member of the PANDA Wind Orchestra, and also one of the founders. She will release her first CD “Beans” by the Octavia Records in December 2018.