Taiki Azuma

Prof. Taiki Azuma currently serves on faculty at Catawba College, High Point, Wake Forest, Lenoir-Rhyne and Fayetteville State Universities teaching a variety of applied woodwind lessons and courses. He holds the principal saxophone chair of the Piedmont Wind Symphony, section oboe chair for Carolina Philharmonic, and has performed with the North Carolina Symphony, EMF Festival Orchestra, Fayetteville Symphony, Teatro Lirico D'Europa, Western Piedmont Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Salisbury Symphony, Florida Wind Symphony, Festival of the Arts Boca, the Sinfonia, in addition to performing at various venues and events such as Carnegie Hall, Smetana Hall, International Saxophone Symposium, ClarinetFest, International Double Reed Symposium, North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences, as well as appearing in the inaugural TEDx Delray Beach.

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 (Truman State University) and the Sirocco Reed Quintet (2017/2026 New Music Greensboro Artists-in-Residence and featured performers of ClarinetFest 2019/2021). His research on the connection of body to sound has been presented at various venues including the 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.

An active pit musician and multi-instrumentalist, he serves as the musician coordinator for various organizations including UNC-Greensboro, Elon University and Theatre Raleigh while also performing in local and regional theatre's including venues such as Theatre Raleigh (NC), Ogunquit Playhouse (ME) and Riverside Theatre (FL). He frequently travels nationally and abroad as the Overseas Representative for BREATHTAKING Co., Ltd. woodwind accessories, a company based in Japan that promotes the musician's well-being by reducing performance related body stress through the development of choice instrumental accessories.

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, an MA in Instrumental Wind Conducting at Florida Atlantic University and an MM in saxophone performance at UNC-Greensboro with post-baccalaureate concentrations in Music Education and Oboe Performance. 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.