Grace Takeda, Viola

Grace Takeda’s musical endeavours have taken her into various different music genres including jazz, baroque, contemporary and free improvisation. A native of North Vancouver, Canada, Ms. Takeda began her studies on the violin at the age of four after being awed and inspired by “Sailor Neptune”, a character from her formerly favourite TV show Sailor Moon, playing Boccherini’s Minuet.

At the age of six, she started taking piano lessons, following in her older sister’s footsteps. Ms. Takeda equally loved playing on both instruments, but since multitasking isn’t quite her forte, she decided to concentrate on the violin in which she obtained her Bachelor of Music at McGill University in Montréal, Québec. Her love of lower frequencies prompted her to switch to the viola at the age of 21 and has not turned back since.

She is currently a Master of Music student at The Juilliard School studying with Misha Amory of the Brentano String Quartet. Her past mentors have included violist André Roy, violinists: Mark Fewer, Denise Lupien, Akira Nagai, Heilwig von Koenigsloew, and pianist Kathy Bjorseth. When she is not practicing, Ms. Takeda loves to bake various types of cookies, muffins, and cakes as well as reading psychology articles, and hiking different degrees of mountains.