Chiai Tajima, originally from Japan, now resides in Los Angeles with a versatile career as a performer, collaborator and mentor. She has performed in a variety of settings, ranging from coveted venues across the globe such as Carnegie Hall to homeless shelters and nursing homes. She has served as concertmaster of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan as well as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra in Germany. Throughout the year, she performs as a substitute member of the San Diego Symphony and Pacific Symphony. In addition to her orchestral collaborations, Chiai is a founding member of the Ubuntu String Quartet and was recently invited to hold a residency at the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna to perform the complete Schoenberg string quartets. She is also an artist at Le Salon De Musique, a chamber music series based in La Jolla, San Diego. Chiai spends summers teaching at Porterville Strings, providing mentorship to one of the many underserved communities in central California. She has also participated in numerous community engagement concerts throughout Los Angeles, visiting homeless shelters, nursing homes, and Title I elementary schools to bring classical music to audiences who are unable to attend live performances.
Chiai holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Masao Kawasaki as a recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship. She also studied with Bing Wang at The USC Thornton School of Music where she completed her Graduate Certificate.