A Tokyo native, Meg Okura is a Grammy-nominated violinist and award-winning composer based in the Bronx, New York. As a teen, Ms. Okura toured Asia as the soloist and concertmaster of the Asian Youth Orchestra. At 19, she made her U.S. solo debut at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She earned B.M. and MM degrees from the Juilliard School as a violin performance major, only to make a difficult switch to jazz upon graduation. She has toured internationally as a violinist, appearing at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Barbican Hall in the U.K., Madison Square Garden, Village Vanguard, Blue Note Tokyo, Hollywood Bowl, and numerous jazz and Jewish music festivals worldwide with many jazz greats such as Lee Konitz, Michael Brecker, Tom Harrel, Steve Swallow, Sam Newsome, Diane Reeves, as well as David Bowie, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Cirque du Soleil, Emilio Solla, and many others.
Dubbed “the queen of chamber jazz” by All About Jazz, Ms. Okura leads her Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, appearing in its hometown of New York at Birdland Jazz Club, Blue Note, Knitting Factory, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz At Lincoln Center, Winter JazzFest, as well as Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., K.L. Jazz Festival in Malaysia, and sold-out concerts in Japan. She has released albums under her own name and the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, and her credit appears in more than 100 albums, films and live-performance videos.