Anju aoto

Anju Aoto, clarinetist and bass clarinetist, received an Honorable Mention at the 2023 Silverstein Clarinet Competition, where she was the only bass clarinetist to receive an award. She has since established herself as an active orchestral, chamber, and contemporary bass clarinet performer in New York and beyond.

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

Dedicated to contemporary music, Aoto has performed with ensembles including BeComEnsemble, Away From Keyboard, and Ensemble Fantasque, performing on all clarinet positions, including bass and contrabass clarinet. She has premiered numerous works, including Emre Sener’s Traummaler (2025), featured on 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, including Ghosts, Filter, and Psychedelic Candy, recorded on Umemoto’s album Dream Sandwich (2020).

Aoto attended the NONAKA Clarinet Academy (2018) and Kitakaruizawa Music Festival (2019, 2021, 2022) in Japan for solo clarinet training. After discovering her passion for orchestral bass clarinet performance, she attended the Tanglewood Music Center as a bass clarinet fellow in 2025 and returned as a guest artist in 2026. In 2026, she performed at the BBC Proms as a member of the joint Juilliard School and Royal Academy of Music Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. She also toured the United Kingdom with the Atlantic Septet, performing chamber music in Oxford and London.

In addition to her performing career, Aoto was appointed Clarinet Lead Faculty at the 2024 Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, where she taught young student musicians.

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