Elizabeth Furuta

Elizabeth Furuta began playing the violin at the age of four, inspired by seeing the Tokyo String Quartet perform on Sesame Street. She previously played in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and was Second Associate Concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony. Furuta holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she received the Dr. Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music. Her primary teachers include William Preucil and David Updegraff. An avid chamber musician, Furuta has worked with members of the Brentano, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo string quartets and has participated in the Banff Chamber Music Residency, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Fischoff competition, and the Taos School of Music. Other notable performances include a solo performance for former United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter and an appearance as the musical guest on NPR's nationally broadcast program Says You.