VIDEO: Presidential Scholar Erena Terakubo
Erena Terakubo, from Sapporo, Japan, began playing the alto saxophone at age 9. She immediately began playing in the Sapporo Junior Jazz Orchestra, and taking part in clinics with famous jazz musicians, such as Herbie Hancock. At 15 and 16, Terakubo attended the Berklee Five-Week Summer Performance Program where she was awarded a full tuition scholarship and selected to be a member of the Berklee Summer Jazz Workshop. In 2010, she recorded her first album, which reached No. 1 on several Japanese jazz charts. Since then, she has performed at the Tokyo Jazz Festival, Sapporo City Jazz Festival, Jazz Week Osaka 2010, Nagoya Jazz Festival, Kitara Hall, and more. In 2011, she recorded a second album, New York Attitude.
Learn more about the Presidential Scholarship.