Miya Saito-Beckman graduated this past June earning a Master of Music in violin performance and pedagogy at the University of Oregon, having also earned her B.M. in violin performance summa cum laude from the UO in spring 2017. She studied and performed abroad in Vienna, Austria with her professor Fritz Gearhart during the fall of 2015. Ms. Saito-Beckman has been a featured soloist with the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra and was a two-time soloist with the Central Oregon Symphony. She has taken master classes with violinists James Ehnes, Rachel Barton Pine, and Georg Hamann. An avid chamber musician, Miya has studied with both the Arianna String Quartet and the Calder String Quartet.
In addition to her classical interests and accomplishments, Ms. Saito-Beckman is also deeply involved in alternative strings music. She was accepted to study with members of YoYo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble at the Global Musicians Workshop at Depauw University. She has also been the recipient of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame Scholarship in 2013, and the 2009 winner of the ASTA (American String Teacher Association) Alternative Strings Award— she was invited to perform at the National String Conference in Atlanta, GA. A four-time finalist at the National Fiddling Championship, Ms. Saito-Beckman is also the four-time Oregon State Fiddle Grand Champion.
As a graduate student at the University of Oregon, Ms. Saito-Beckman was awarded the TA position of the University of Oregon’s Suzuki Institute. She taught private lessons, fiddle classes, theory classes, group classes, and coached chamber ensembles weekly. A number of her students have been national champions at the National Fiddle Competition. She has taught on the faculty at the Chamber Music Camp of Portland, The University of Oregon Symphony Camp, the Fiddlestar Youth Camp, and the Northwest Suzuki Institute.