Mei Hotta

Biography supplied for the 2024 competition.

Cellist Mei Hotta, from Torrance, California, began her studies at the age of four. Mei has been featured as a soloist on NPR's From the Top and subsequently was invited to collaborate with Pink Martini in a performance at the Hollywood Bowl. She was invited back to the From the Top to collaborate with Peter Dugan and Vijay Gupta. She was also featured in the Piatigorsky Festival's Young Artist Workshop as the youngest member and soloist. Mei was a semifinalist in the 2017 and 2018 Stulberg International Competition, the 2023 Klein Competition, and has been a prize winner in the Classics Alive Artist Competition, Junior Bach Festival Complete Works Competition, Los Angeles Violoncello Society's Scholarship Audition, Bellflower Concerto Competition, CAPMT Concerto Competition, Enkor Competition, and the Edith Knox Young Artists Performance Competition. Mei has attended Center Stage Strings, the National Cello Institute, the Heifetz International Music Institute, Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and has been invited to the Aspen Music Festival as the New Horizons Fellowship recipient. Masterclasses have been with Ron Leonard, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Ralph Kirshbaum, Hans Jensen, Antonio Meneses, Gary Hoffman, Richard Aaron, Alan Stepansky, Peter Wiley, David Finckel, Darrett Adkins, Steven Doane, Ben Hong, Marc Coppey, and Brinton Averil Smith. Prior solo studies have been with Sarah Koo and Diana Parmeter. She currently studies with Clive Greensmith, pursuing her bachelor of music degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music.