Sandy Yamamoto

Violinist Sandy Yamamoto has dazzled audiences in concert performances around the globe for the past three decades as a soloist and as a member of the Miró Quartet. The New York Times describes her performance as playing with “explosive vigor and technical finesse.” With the Quartet, she performed on the major concert stages of the world, regularly concertizing in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. She was a recipient of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and Cleveland Quartet Award, won First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and was one of the first chamber musicians to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has shared the stage with many prominent musicians including Leif Ove Andsnes, Joshua Bell, Eliot Fisk, Lynn Harrell, Midori, Jon Kimura Parker and Pinchas Zukerman. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Practice in Violin Performance at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin and was the recipient of the 2016 Butler School of Music Teaching Excellence Award.

She regularly presents recitals in Austin with the Butler Trio and Schumann Chamber Players as well as duo recitals with fellow piano faculty members. She also curates the Sandy Yamamoto and Friends concert series at the Butler School of Music, where she presents chamber music concerts with students and faculty alike. In the summers, she teaches at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and performs at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival regularly. Professor Yamamoto often performs with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. When she is not busy teaching and performing, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Daniel, her two sons, Adrian and Brian, her cat, Poko and her two gerbils, Silas and Sawyer.