Meet the Faculty
Mihoko Watanabe
(920) 424-4226
watanabe@uwosh.edu
D.M.A., M.M., B.M.; Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh since 2003. Prior to joining the Department of Music at UW Oshkosh, Dr. Watanabe taught at the Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Windsor, Canada.
A celebrated and versatile international performer, Dr. Watanabe has completed
successful tours of Japan, Israel and Canada as a recitalist, chamber musician,
and concerto soloist. As a member of TRIO PIACERE (flute, cello, piano),
she toured Japan In summer of 2006 and recently Trio Piacere was invited
to perform at the Fox River Music Festival (WI). As a member of DUO VIVA
(Two Flutes Duo), she released first CD, “Doppler Effect (Little Piper),”
at the National Flute Association Convention in 2006. Duo Viva was invited
to perform at the NFA in New Mexico. Recent reviews of “Doppler Effect”
includes;
“…intonation is particularly magical…highlight the artists’
great technical and musical abilities. (Flutist Quarterly, Summer 2007),”
“…excellently well played…(All Music Guide, 2007),”
“…sweet tone and blend of these two fine flutists is sure to
delight…(The Flute Network, May/June 2007)”
“Unbelievable duet playing; it was almost as if one flutist was playing
both flutes at the same time!”- Brad Slocum, Coordinator, Music at
Noon Recital Series, Sacramento, CA, 2006.”
As an orchestral player, she has held principle flute positions in orchestras
in North America. She is currently the principal flutist with the Oshkosh
Symphony Orchestra (WI). Also, she was the winner of both Japan Flute Association
competition as well as the National Flute Association competition in the
U.S. She also enthusiastically premiers new works for flute.
As a pedagogue, Dr. Watanabe has taught numerous master classes throughout
the United States, Canada, and Japan, and has adjudicated international
music festivals and competitions. In 2005, she joined the faculty of the
Brevard Music Center summer festival, where she played flute and piccolo
with the BMC orchestra, taught in master classes, and coached various chamber
music groups.
Along with being a gifted flutist, Dr. Watanabe is also devoted to the study of ethnomusicology, with a focus on Japanese traditional music, in particular. As such, she studied Ethnomusicology at the University of Michigan. She received the Faculty Development Grant from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh to research Japanese traditional perspectives on Kazuo Fukushima’s Mei for solo flute in Japan. In 2007, she was invited to give a lecture recital titled “Essence of MEI” and to perform at the National Flute Association (NFA) Convention.
Dr. Watanabe received her Doctorate from the University of Michigan, both
her Master of Music and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School
of Music, and her Bachelor of Music from the Musashino Academia Musicae
in Tokyo. Her teachers have included Bonita Boyd, Leone Buyse, Fenwick Smith,
Takao Saeki and Ervin Monroe. For her additional training, she has participated
in numerous summer festivals across North America and master-classes with
Julius Baker, Jean Baxtresser, Bradley Garner, Walfrid Kujala, Alain Marion,
and Emmanuel Pahud among others.