Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Presents: Keila Wakao, violin; Dina Vainshtein , piano

Artist(s)

Keila Wakao, violinist, https://www.keilawakao.com/

"Her performance was an unmitigated artistic triumph." - The Straits Times 2025

"Wakao wowed us with perfect intonation and a crystalline sound." - The Boston Music Intelligencer 2024

Keila Wakao made her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut for the BSO’s Opening Night Gala concert in September 2024 under Andris Nelsons.

Keila Wakao won First Prize in the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition Junior Division and the composer award for outstanding performance of a commissioned work and was also awarded the Gold Medal and Bach Prize at the 2021 Stulberg International String Competition. In 2023, she was awarded the Aoyama Music Foundation Award in Japan for upcoming artists. She also won 1st prize in the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, where she performed alongside the BSO and Thomas Wilkins in the BSO Family Concert in October 2023, and is a recipient of Charlotte White's Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant. In 2024, she was awarded the Next Generation Distinguished Cultural Achievement Award from the Japan Society of Boston and was also featured on CBS Boston’s television news.

Born in 2006, Keila Wakao is from Chestnut Hill, MA, and began playing the violin at age 3. Former BSO concertmaster Joseph Silverstein accepted her as a student when she was 6 years old. From age 9, she studied with Donald Weilerstein. She worked with Itzhak Perlman and participated in the Perlman Music Program in summers 2018-2022. Currently, Keila is an undergraduate student of Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory as a Starling Foundation Full Scholarship recipient.

Dina Vainshtein, pianist, https://www.dinavainshtein.com/

“An extraordinary collaborator. She is an extremely fine musician and one of the most empathetic, dynamic, and supportive chamber players I know.” — Donald Weilerstein

“The perfect partnership; [she is] the ultimate professional.” – Benjamin Zander

Pianist Dina Vainshtein received the Special Prize for the Best Collaborative Pianist at the 1998 International Tchaikovsky Competition. She performed in the US, from Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York City, to the Caramoor Festival, Music at Menlo, the Ravinia Festival, the Music Academy in the West at Santa Barbara, and tours of Japan, China, Europe, and Russia.

Bob McQuiston reviewed the recent Naxos release of Emile Sauret’s violin showpieces featuring Michi Wianko and Vainshtein: “She couldn’t have a better partner than Ms. Vainshtein.” Vainshtein made another acclaimed Naxos recital disc with Frank Huang, the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.