Biography
Tomiko Tsai (formerly Tomiko Hamai) is a flute teacher and performer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tomiko received her Master's degree in flute performance from USC. She maintains a large private flute studio of young students, having taught over 60 students over the years, many of which started their instruction with Tomiko and have since become talented flutists who participate in a variety of prominent youth ensembles throughout the bay area. Tomiko has had the opportunity to work with many great flutists throughout the years, such as Jeanne Baxtresser, Walfrid Kujala, Susan Milan, Jim Walker, Mimi Stillman, Ransom Wilson, Maria Tamburrino, Karen van Dyke, Laurel Zucker, Tadeu Coelho, Anne Diener Zenter, Isobel Chapius-Starr, Jill Felber, and Joshua Smith. Tomiko has given flute masterclasses at CSU East Bay and the Community School of Music and Arts. Tomiko has performed as a soloist in St. Paul's Cathedral in London and has been invited as a guest judge at several competitions, such as El Camino Youth Symphony Concerto Competition. Tomiko is currently a member of the Divisa Ensemble - a chamber mixed music group of winds and strings, the Fortnightly Music Club and a former member of the Stanford Flute Ensemble. Tomiko is a faculty member at the Northern California Flute Camp, which attracts some of the best young flutists from around the country and abroad. Tomiko has previously worked in the schools, teaching flute to 5th graders at El Carmelo and Hoover Schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District, 5th grade band at Huff Elementary and Landels Elementary Schools in the Mountain View Whisman School District, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade band at Trinity School in Menlo Park, 5th grade band at Bullis School in Los Altos, band, music theory, and music history at Summit High School in Redwood City, and was Music Director at Kehillah High School in Palo Alto.
Tomiko grew up in Palo Alto, California, attending Juana Briones elementary school, J.L.S. middle school, and Henry M. Gunn high school. Tomiko began playing the flute at a relatively late age (13 years old) after first playing the clarinet. Her first flute teachers were Joy Apple and Karen van Dyke. After high school, Tomiko moved to Washington state, where she attended the University of Puget Sound (UPS). At UPS, Tomiko received her BS degree in Chemistry and BA degree in Music, graduating with Honors in Music. While at UPS, Tomiko studied flute with Karla Flygare from the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. Tomiko then moved on to graduate school at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. There, Tomiko earned her Masters in Music degree (Flute Performance), having studied with Gary Woodward from the LA Opera.
Tomiko's music awards include the Presser Foundation Music Scholarship, UPS Music Scholarship, Cleone Soule Memorial Scholarship, John Philip Sousa Band Award, W.K. Peters Memorial Scholarship for Outstanding Musicianship, and Bank of America Achievement Award in Music. Tomiko has also won the University of Puget Sound Concerto Competition. Tomiko has worked with many conductors throughout the years, including Adam Stern (Seattle Symphony), Christophe Chagnard (Northwest Sinfonietta), H. Robert Reynolds, Frank Ticheli (composer), Sergiu Comissiona (Romanian National Opera), and Jorge Mester (Pasadena Symphony).
Tomiko's orchestral experience includes Korean-American Symphony, Tacoma Concert Band, USC Symphony, chamber orchestra, wind ensemble, opera orchestra, repertory ensemble, and woodwind quintet, UPS symphony, wind ensemble, opera orchestra, flute ensemble, San Jose Symphony Youth Orchestra, California Music Educator's All-State Honor Band, and California Band director's Association All-State Honor Band.
Tomiko is the founder of the Flute Nerds of the World, Unite! discussion group on Facebook, which has over 1000 members.
Tomiko's solo recital performances at the Mostly Bach Festival and Music From Japan: Music by Toru Takemitsu concerts were highlighted in the Palo Alto Weekly and Hokubei Mainichi newpapers. Tomiko has also been a featured orchestral soloist several times, performing J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Griffes' Poem for flute and orchestra, and Hansen's Serenade for flute and string orchestra.