Sonata Series Event #2: Performer Bios

Eliko Akahori, piano (guest artist)
Eliko has appeared as a recitalist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist in the United States, Europe, and Asia.  Recent performances include recitals with Mai Motobuchi, violist in the Borromeo Quartet, and concerts with A Far Cry, Winsor Music, Cantata Singers and Music at Eden’s Edge.   Ms. Akahori collaborated with Vienna Philharmonic principal flutist Karl-Heinz Schütz in recording two CDs that were released in 2014 along with a series of recitals in the U.S., Austria and Spain.  She received the first prize, Coleman-Barstow Award, in the 57^th Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition.  Past collaborators in recitals, chamber music concerts, recordings, and radio and television broadcasts include members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago, Montreal, Boston and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, among others.  Ms. Akahori has performed in many festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, IMAI in Maine, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.  Ms. Akahori holds a Doctorate of Music in Collaborative Piano and Master’s degree in Music Theory, both from the New England Conservatory of Music.  She is currently a senior performance faculty and director of the music performance program at Wellesley College.

Sarah Kim, violin
Sarah joined CMW as a resident musician in 2017. From 2008-2013, Sarah was a member of the Apple Hill String Quartet, resident ensemble of the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. Based in Kansas City from 2013-2017, Sarah enjoyed teaching a wide spectrum of students and received the 2015 Studio Teacher Award from the Missouri chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Sarah holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University where her principal teachers included Pamela Frank, Phil Setzer, Peter Oundjian, and Miriam Fried. 

Sebastian Ruth, viola
Sebastian, a violinist and violist, is CMW’s Founder & Artistic Director. A graduate of Brown University, Sebastian has been a member of the Wild Ginger Philharmonic and the Boston Philharmonic and has performed with members of the Borromeo, Muir, Miro, Orion, and Turtle Island String Quartets, and with pianist Jonathan Biss and violist Kim Kashkashian. Influential teachers include Eric Rosenblith, Rolfe Sokol, Lois Finkel, Pamela Gearhart, Mela Tenenbaum, and Kim Kashkashian. Sebastian is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, recognized for “forging a new, multifaceted role beyond the concert hall for the twenty-first-century musician”, and an honorary doctorate degree from Brown University. Sebastian has served as a Visiting Lecturer at the Yale School of Music, where he designed and taught courses exploring the theoretical foundations of CMW, and has served as an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music at Brown University. His Coursera course “Music and Social Action” has had over 17,000 learners. Sebastian has spoken at the Ford Foundation, the Kennedy Center, Florida State University, TEDxProvidence, and other venues on citizen artistry, entrepreneurship, and music, and joined nine other artists as part of the RISD Museum’s Raid the Icebox NOW exhibit. Sebastian is married to violinist Minna Choi, and their two daughters, Juna Maya and Elia Ahn, are his current teachers about life.

Miguel Vásquez, cello
Miguel is an active performer and educator in the New England area. Miguel has participated in several music festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Center in 2017 and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, where he was part of their 2009-2013 tours, as well as in their Carnegie Hall concert in 2010. Miguel graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 2014 from Longy School of Music of Bard College and Emerson College in Boston, where he studied with Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Mihail Jojatu. In 2016, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Cello Performance from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Borromeo Quartet cellist Yeesun Kim.