Pixel String Quartet

Sanae Kodaira was born in Caracas, Venezuela and began studying the cello at the age of 6 , with Professor Zaida Gomez at Emil Friedman School. In 2005 participated for the first time at The International Summer Course of the Academia Latinoamericana de Violoncello and since then became an active member of that institution and “El Sistema” as a student of Maestro Marek Gajzler. At age 8, she debuted as a soloist with the "Youth Symphony Orchestra Chacao", under the baton of Maestro Florentino Mendoza. In July 2007, at age 9, Sanae won 1st prize in the Third Level Cello Competition at Emil Friedman School, and was a featured soloist with the Orchestra Virtuosi de Caracas. In June 2008, she was invited as a soloist to be accompanied by The National Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Ivan Perez. In October 2008, she was invited by the Venezuelan-Japanese Association and the Embassy of Japan, to perform a concert "Celebrating 80 years of the 1st Japanese immigration to Venezuela," accompanied by Pianist Sadao Muraki. In June 2009, she performed as a soloist with Filarmonía Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Frank Di Polo. In June 2010, she won the second prize in the Cello competition in The Jacobs School of Music summer festival. In February 2012, she was invited as soloist by “Symphony Orchestra Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho”, under the baton of Maestra Elisa Vega. After moving to the United States, she started studying in New World School of the Arts with Aaron Merritt. In January 2014, she won the “NWSA Concerto Competition” and played as a soloist with the New World School of the Arts symphony orchestra. In 2016 she competed and won for a second time with Dvorak concerto. In addition to the performance opportunities she's had, she has also received Master Classes with distinguished musicians: Yo-Yo Ma, Alisa Weilerstein, Philippe Tribot; Kristin Leitner, Mario Brunello, Adalberto Koscic, Matt Haimovitz, Luca Franzetti, William Molina, Valmore Nieves, Mauricio Lopez, Udi-Bar David, etc. In 2018, Sanae was awarded the Ann Chess Fellowship and performed as a soloist with the Lancaster Festival. In 2019 she was invited to participate in the SuperCello festival in China, where she was a member of the cello ensemble tour. In 2020, Sanae received her Bachelor's Degree in cello performance from The Juilliard School. She was a Teaching Fellow of the Ear Training department at Juilliard, a MAP Teaching Fellow and a Gluck Community Service Fellow.