Miya Saito-Beckman, a dedicated and intuitive artist, strives to foster meaningful musical connections through both performance and education. She earned a Bachelor of Music Performance Degree and a Master of Music Performance Degree in Violin Performance/Pedagogy from the University of Oregon, studying under Fritz Gearhart. Miya has been a featured soloist with the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra and the Central Oregon Symphony. Having served as the concertmaster for the University of Oregon Symphony and the University of Oregon Camerata as a student, she’s also performed with the Eugene Symphony and the Eugene Concert Choir Orchestra as a section violinist. She’s studied with both the Calder Quartet and the Ariana String Quartet at the Britt Music Festival in Southern Oregon and has also taken master classes with world-class violinists James Ehnes and Rachel Barton Pine.
In addition, Miya is deeply passionate about traditional folk music and is a nationally recognized fiddler. She is a four-time finalist at the National Fiddling Championship and is also the four-time Oregon State Fiddle Champion. Miya has studied and collaborated with members of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble while attending the Global Musician Workshop. In the past, she has been a recipient of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame Scholarship, the Sunriver Music Festival Young Artist Scholarship, and the American String Teacher Association (ASTA) Alternative Strings Award. Her students have won state and national titles in violin and fiddle competitions around the country. She has performed alongside musicians Darol Anger, Abigail Washburn, Bruce Molsky, Roy “Futureman” Wooten and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest). Summer festivals and camps she has taught at have been the Chamber Music Camp of Portland, the University of Oregon Symphony Camp, the Fiddlestar Youth Camp in Nashville, Corvallis Youth Symphony Camp and the Northwest Suzuki Institute. She has also been on faculty with the Bronx Conservatory of Music, Third Street Music Settlement, the Hochstein School of Music, and ROCmusic. Currently, she maintains a private studio in Oregon, while also serving as faculty and secretary of the Executive Board with the Redfish Chamber Music Festival.
In her free-time, Miya loves watching soccer, cooking, and exploring outdoors with her husband, orchestral conductor and violinist, Nicholas Sharma and their Border Collie, Hudson.