JUNI KOBAYASHI

Juni Kobayashi has been a performing member of Odaiko New England since 2001 and full-time staff since 2006. She is currently the new Artistic Director succeeding Mark H Rooney.

Born in New York and raised in New Jersey and Tokyo, Juni began her musical studies in classical piano at age 5 with Alexander Alexay and at age 10 she began playing percussion. Juni’s primary teachers have been former Principal Percussionist of the New York Philharmonic, Walter Rosenberger, Dr. Walter Schneider, and Professor Thomas Siwe. Juni holds a Bachelor of Music Performance Degree from the University of Illinois, School of Music where she was the recipient of the Talented Undergraduate Award, the Edgar Varese Award and the Presser Scholar Award.

Juni discovered Odaiko New England at First Night Boston 2000. Since then, she has studied taiko with Odaiko New England founder, Elaine Fong, and Mark H Rooney. Juni has also trained in Japan and the US from taiko masters such as Kenny Endo and KODO members Yoshikazu Fujimoto, Eiichi Saito, Chieko Kojima, Yoko Fujimoto, and Kaoru Watanabe.

Before joining Odaiko New England, Juni was a synthesizer sound designer and programmer at Young Chang R & D Institute and Kurzweil Music Systems, Inc. where she was Senior Soundware Engineer until 2004.

Juni is also a freelance percussionist, sound designer, and recording artist and has performed with various musicians, dancers, and local bands playing original progressive rock-fusion, Latin-jazz, and electronic music.