Hi! I’m Anju Aoto!

Anju Aoto is a Japanese clarinetist and bass clarinetist based in New York. She received an Honorable Mention at the 2023 Silverstein Clarinet Competition, where she was the only bass clarinetist to receive an award. Aoto has performed with the Juilliard Orchestra, Juilliard Opera, AXIOM, and Brooklyn Chamber Symphony, collaborating with conductors including David Robertson, Jörg Widmann, Barbara Hannigan, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and John Adams.

Dedicated to contemporary music, she has premiered works by composers including Emre Sener, Ben Rieke, Joy Redmond, and Jonah Cohen. Her recent engagements include appearances at the Tanglewood Music Center as a bass clarinet fellow and guest artist, the 2026 BBC Proms with the joint Juilliard–Royal Academy of Music Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and a UK tour with the Atlantic Septet in Oxford and London.

Aoto holds a 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, studying with Michael Wayne.