About Taiki Azuma

Taiki Azuma currently serves as Part-time Lecturer of Music at UNC-Pembroke, Adjunct Lecturer of Applied Woodwinds at Fayetteville State University, and Adjunct Professor of Oboe/Flute at Lenoir-Rhyne University. In addition to applied woodwind lessons, he teaches methods courses, chamber music and music appreciation collectively among the colleges. He is a doctoral candidate in saxophone performance and with a Post Baccalaureate Certificate concentration in Oboe Performance and Music Education at UNC-Greensboro, where he held a graduate teaching assistantship throughout his time there.

As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed at/with as Carnegie Hall, Smetana Hall, William C. Byrd International Young Artists Competition, International Saxophone Symposium, Carolina Philharmonic, Piedmont Wind Symphony, Florida Wind Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Durham Symphony, International Double Reed Symposium, North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences, MTNA Chamber Music Competition, Boca Sinfonia, as well as appearing in the inaugural TEDx Delray Beach in 2013 with QSQ. In demand as a multi-instrumentalist, Taiki performed in 15 musical theater shows throughout the Triad for the 2018-2019 season in addition to his duties as a pit orchestra contractor for UNCG and numerous one-off productions.

He has premiered and performed a number of new works for saxophone and woodwinds at various instrumental conferences and clinics as both a soloist and chamber musician, including the Ren Duo with Dr. Xin Gao and the Sirocco Reed Quintet (2017 New Music Greensboro Artists-in-Residence and featured performers of ClarinetFest 2019). His research on the connection of body to sound has been presented at various venues including the 2019 Midwestern Conductor's Symposium in Kirksville, MO. In 2020, he presented two premiere performances at the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial in Tempe, AZ including a new consortium commissioned work involving saxophone, max/msp electronics, and lighting design, composed by Robin McLaughlin.

Taiki obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami on a full music and academic scholarship double-majoring in music and pre-med and an MA in Instrumental Wind Conducting at Florida Atlantic University. His teachers include Dale Underwood, Steven Stusek, Mary-Ashley Barret (oboe), Carla-Copeland Burns (flute), Michael Burns (bassoon), and Kyle Prescott (conducting). He has completed additional studies with renowned saxophonist, Nobuya Sugawa, as a student of the 25th Hamamatsu International Wind Academy in Japan.