Noelle Naito
Violinist
Noelle Midori Takebe Naito, 18, lives in Elkridge, MD. She currently studies violin with Almita Vamos in Chicago. Noelle began her violin studies at the age of four at the Peabody Preparatory, Maryland, under the tutelage of Elizabeth Faidley. She then learned privately with Olga Khroulevitch, Keng-Yuen Tseng, and Li Lin before studying at The Juilliard School, Pre-college Division under Masao Kawasaki. In 2016 and 2017, she participated in the Heifetz International Music Institute, where she studied with Mihaela Martin, Joan Kwuon, Mark Kaplan, Nicholas Kitchen, Patinka Kopec, and Elmar Oliveira.
Noelle made her orchestra debut with the Kostroma Symphony Orchestra (Russia), at age 9, performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto. She has also performed with the Columbia Orchestra, Columbia, Maryland, and the Landon Symphonette, Bethesda, Maryland. Noelle has played in venues such as Weill Recital Hall, New York City, Cadogan Hall, London, England, and Franz Liszt House, Weimar, Germany.
Noelle recently won The William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition and will be playing with the Flint Symphony Orchestra in its 2020-2021 season. She also won the 2020 United States Army Orchestra Competition in its string division and will be playing with them as well in fall 2020. Noelle was also selected as a Student Artist at the 2019 Starling-Delay Symposium held at the Juilliard School where she performed in masterclasses for Kathleen Winkler and Midori. She has also appeared on WFMT, Chicago, “Introductions” as a soloist and a chamber musician.
As an avid chamber musician, Noelle has been a prize winner at the Rembrandt Chamber Competition (Chicago), Grand Prize winner at the Pearl G. Barnett Chamber Music Competition (Chicago), and a finalist at the Saint Paul Chamber Competition. She was also a semi-finalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Other interests include yoga, ballet, and Japanese culture.