Yuka Takako

Yuka Takako graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts Music High School, and then graduated top of the class from Tokyo University of the Arts, in the faculty of music. She received the Ataka Award and the NTT-Docomo Award while still attending school. She studied at the Detmold Music University in Germany as a scholarship student of the DAAD German Academic Exchange Service, and later as an overseas research artist from the Agency for Cultural Affairs. She has given recitals at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, as well as concertos with the German Halle National Orchestra, Duisburg Philharmonic, Bielefeld Chamber Orchestra. She was chosen for the Japan Woodwind Competition and awarded the Cosmos Prize, she won highest place at the Clarinet Competition in Kassel, Germany, and was chosen for the International Weber Competition. She received the German National Soloist Certificate with highest honors. Takako has studied clarinet under Takeo Kimura, Masaharu Yamamoto, Yuji Murai, and Hans-Dietrich Klaus. She is currently a clarinetist with the Gunma Symphony Orchestra and a part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts.