Miho Wada is a Japanese-born jazz musician from New Zealand. She plays flute and both alto and tenor saxophone, and is a founding member of Miho's Jazz Orchestra, which has toured internationally. She has been nicknamed "the flute ninja" for her fast playing style.

Early life

Born in Japan, Wada began taking piano lessons at the age of four. In 1995, Wada's father – an enthusiastic fan of New Zealand rugby and yachting – decided to move the family to

Burnside, Christchurch Burnside is a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located southeast of Christchurch International Airport. As with most suburbs in Christchurch, it has no defined boundaries and is a general area. History Burnside was originally part of a ...

in New Zealand. When Wada's parents hired a new piano teacher for her, their chosen instructor also happened to play flute, which was how Wada first took an interest in the instrument.

Career

After earning a Bachelor of Music degree, Wada moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, to pursue further study at the

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

. In 2007, Wada was selected to attend a Swiss summer academy for classical flute held by virtuoso flautist Sir James Galway. Despite being excited at the opportunity, Wada found herself feeling out of place among the other students at the academy, and afterwards began exploring jazz and world music venues. Meeting a group of Cuban musicians, Wada eventually decided to travel to Cuba, where she found a new flute teacher:

"I had to relearn everything. After three months, I totally got it. It was all about the blood flow, the rhythm of the blood. It was about finding a way of playing the flute that was most natural to me. I found my passion as a musician and what made me happy."

Wada has been nicknamed "the flute ninja" for her ability to play very fast music on the flute, a skill she attributes to her musical training in Cuba. In addition to playing flute, she also plays alto and tenor saxophone. In 2009, Wada returned to New Zealand and settled down in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Soon afterwards, she formed a punk-rock-ska band called Miho Wada and the Shit Fight, and the ensemble toured for the next couple of years. In 2011, she formed the new six-person band Miho's Jazz Orchestra, and the group raised funds for

Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region in the South Island, centred south-east of the centr ...

recovery work. Miho's Jazz Orchestra has continued to perform steadily since then, touring New Zealand, Australia and Japan, and the group's musical style is described as "a combination of

Afro-Cuban Afro-Cubans () or Black Cubans are Cubans of full or partial sub-Saharan African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba associated with this community, and the combining of native African a ...

and

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

, influenced by contemporary jazz".

Discography

Miho's Jazz Orchestra

* ''Para Tí'' (2011) * ''Wanderland'' (2012) * ''EXIT 621'' (2013) * ''Mystery Banana'' (2014) * ''Memphis Dreamin (2014) * ''Live at the Lab'' (2014) * ''Bumpy Road'' (2015) * ''New World Sympathy'' (2016)

Personal life

Wada is married to violinist Pascal Roggen, who plays as part of Miho's Jazz Orchestra. In 2015, Wada gave birth to a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wada, Miho Japanese flautists New Zealand flautists Japanese women flautists New Zealand women flautists Women jazz flautists Jazz alto saxophonists Jazz tenor saxophonists Japanese jazz saxophonists Japanese jazz flautists New Zealand jazz musicians 21st-century New Zealand musicians Musicians from Christchurch New Zealand people of Japanese descent Japanese emigrants to New Zealand Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century saxophonists Japanese women jazz saxophonists New Zealand jazz saxophonists 21st-century women musicians 21st-century flautists