Kei Ito

Clarinet

Principal player of NHK Symphony Orchestra, lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts, lecturer at Kunitachi College of Music, and associate professor at Tokyo College of Music.

Kei Ito was born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1977. He graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2001. In 2004, he came in first place at the 6th Japan National Clarinet Competition. He was chosen for the 75th Japan Music Competition in 2006. After working with the Geidai Philharmonia Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, he is now the principal clarinetist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra and a lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts, Kunitachi College of Music, and Tokyo College of Music. So far, he has studied clarinet under Susumu Sengoku, Hiroyuki Hibino, Masaharu Yamamoto, Hidemi Mikai, Yuji Murai, and Yusuke Noda.