Megumi Kanda, trombone

Megumi Kanda is currently Principal Trombone of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Adjunct Professor of Trombone at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. A native of Tokyo, Japan, Megumi began to paly the trombone at age ten and continued her study at the prestigious Toho High School of Music, where she studied with Sumio Miwa, tombonist in the NHK Symphony. At age fifteen, she became the youngest player ever to be named as one of the top ten trombonists at the Japanese Wind and Percussion Competition. Two years later she won the Grand Prize in the National Competition for Solo Trombone and won best soloist prize upon graduation from teh Toho High School of Music.

Kanda came to the United States in 1994, and received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with James DeSano, who was then Principal Trombone of the Cleveland Orchestra. Prior to joining the Milwaukee Symphony in 2002, she served as a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, faculty member of the Eastman School of Music Community Education Division, and Principal Trombonist of the Albany Symphony Orhcestra. In April 2006, Ms. Kanda was recognized by the Arion Foundation in Tokyo as one of the most influential Japanese classical artists.

Ms. Kanda has performed in recital and as a soloist across the United States, Europe and Asia, including with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the US Army Field Band, and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. As a JVC/Victor Entertainment artist, Megumi has recorded three solo albums: Amazing Grace, Gloria, and Mona Lisa. She also can be heard on Magnifique Live, a live recording of Ms. Kanda and other JVC artists in the August 2005 performance at Takemitsu Hall in Tokyo's Opera City.

Megumi Kanda is a Conn/Greenhoe clinician, and she is very proud to perform on a Conn 88HT with a Greenhoe valve. In her spare time, Megumi enjoys gardening, going to Brewers games, and taking walks with her husband Dietrich and son Hans.