Sae Higashi - Klangfarben (2020) Hi-Res

Sae Higashi is an award-winning clarinetist from Japan.

She previously served as a co-principal clarinetist with the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra directed by Maestro Yutaka Sado from 2013 to 2015. As an orchestra clarinetist, Sae has served with The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonie Orchestra, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gunma Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra and Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a soloist, Sae has given numerous performances in Japan, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Her performance was broadcasted on the NHK-FM music program “Recital Passio”.

Prior to that, she performed Copland’s Clarinet Concert with the Geidai Philharmonia in 2012.

In addition to her appearances on stage, Sae is also passionate about teaching. She serves as an adjunct lecturer at the Kyoto City University of Arts from April to July 2020.

Sae won 3rd place of the Internatinal Clarinet Competition "Saverio Mercadante" in 2016. In the same year, she was selected as a recipient of a scholarship by the Lionsclub in Cologne.

In 2014, she won the Aoyama Music Awards for young players in Kyoto, and received the Aoyama Music Foundation scholarship.

Born in Hyogo/Japan, Sae started her musical journey in 2003 at the age of 12 after receiving her first clarinet lesson in her hometown.

Sae holds a Bachelor of Music degree studying with Professor Masaharu Yamamoto at the Tokyo University of Arts where she was awarded the Acanthus Prize. She also holds a Master of Music degree from Hochschule für Music und Tanz Köln(Germany) where she studied clarinet with Professor Ralph Manno.