Anju aoto

Anju Aoto, clarinetist and bass clarinetist, received an Honorable Mention at the 2023 Silverstein Clarinet Competition being the only bass clarinetist to be given awards. She has since established herself as an active orchestral and contemporary bass clarinet performer in New York and beyond.

Having a unique skill set on bass clarinet, she is frequently called on upon for projects by many conductors and collaborators. Aoto regularly performs with the Juilliard Orchestra, Juilliard Opera, AXIOM (Juilliard’s contemporary ensemble), and Brooklyn Chamber Symphony, collaborating with conductors David Robertson, Jörg Widmann, Jeffrey Milarsky, Barbra Hannigan, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and John Adams. In 2024, she was featured in Juilliard’s NEW SERIES performing Alvin Singleton’ Argoru Va for solo bass clarinet with dancer at the Chelsea Factory (NYC). She also joined Juilliard’s NEW SERIES side-by-side project with members of the New York Philharmonic in Schoenberg’s Suite, Op. 29 conducted by David Robertson.

Dedicated to contemporary music, Aoto has performed with contemporary ensembles BeComEnsemble, Away From Keyboard, Ensemble Fantasque, playing all clarinet positions including bass and contrabass clarinet. Aoto also premiered numerous works, including Emre Sener’s Traummaler (2025) featured in Radio France, Ben Rieke’s Anodyne (2023), Joy Redmond’s Conflux (2023), Jonah Cohen’s Fantasia on “Avinu Malkeinu” (2023), and several works by Yuri Umemoto, such as Ghosts, Filter, and Psychedelic Candy, recorded on Umemoto’s album Dream Sandwich (2020).

Aoto attended NONAKA Clarinet Academy(2018) and Kitakaruizawa Music Festival (2019, 2021, 2022) in Japan for solo clarinet training. After she discovered her passion for orchestral  bass clarinet performance, Aoto attended the Tanglewood Music Center as bass clarinet fellow in 2025. Besides her own growth, Aoto was appointed as Clarinet Lead Faculty at 2024 Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts to teach young student musicians.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, and raised partly in Kansas City, MO, Aoto began violin at age five at the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory Academy, where she won the Dorothy Zimmer Scholarship awarded to young musicians, later studying viola in the Setagaya Junior Orchestra (Japan) before turning to clarinet and bass clarinet. A graduate of the Music High School of Tokyo University of the Arts (GEIDAI), she became the youngest-ever student of GEIDAI’s Practical Music Program (Artist Diploma), studying with Hidemi Mikai and Michiyo Satoh. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Music at The Juilliard School under Charles Neidich.