Violinist Muneko Otani serves on the faculty of Columbia University and Williams College; and is assistant to Lewis Kaplan at the Mannes College of Music. She has also taught at the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg.

As the first violinist of the Cassatt String Quartet since 1986, she has appeared in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as in Europe and Asia. Major venues have included Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Palacio de Bellas Artes, and the Bastille Opera House.

As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with Walter Trampler, Martin Lovett, Marc Johnson, Paul Katz, Kazuhide Isomura, Ursula Oppens, Masuko Ushioda, Colin Carr, and Lawrence Lesser.

Ms. Otani has held fellowships at the Banff Centre, the Tanglewood Music Center, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival; and at Yale University, as assistant to the Tokyo Quartet.

She has served as a panelist for the Juilliard Concerto Competition, the 2019 Postacchini International Violin competition, the Barlow Prize for composition, and Chamber Music America’s Residency Program.

Ms. Otani received a Bachelor of Music degree in both Performance and Education from the Toho Academy of Music in Japan, where she studied with Toshiya Eto. She continued her training at the New England Conservatory, where her principal teachers were Masuko Ushioda and Louis Krasner.

Ms. Otani plays a 1770 J. B. Guadagnini of Parma violin.