"Taiko Saitō (Japanese 易 子 子, Saitō Taiko, 易 子 1976 1976 1976 1976 1976

Taiko began playing Marimba at the age of six; Later came the piano and drums. For eight years she received lessons from the Marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe. She studied at the Tōhō College of Music in Tokyo and then graduated as the first marimbaphone soloist with a diploma. In 1997 she began to deal with improvisation and composition. In 1998, she moved to Berlin to study with David Friedman at the University of the Arts. Rupert Stamm took her 2005 to his vibraphone quartet Xylon (with Tom van der Geld and Franz Bauer ). In 2006 she released her first album Koko together with the pianist Niko Meinhold at Pirouet Records. [1] In the trio Kokotob with Meinhold and the clarinetist Tobias Schirmer, which has existed since 2008, she performed at the Nuremberg Festival Vibraphonissimo in 2017. [2]

Saitō has played with orchestras such as the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra or the Orchester d'Auvergne. At the 5 th International Shostakovich Festival in Gohrisch in 2014, she participated in the premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's work "So sei es" as a drummer, [3] which appeared with chamber music works by Viktor Suslin in the same year on the album In Memoriam at BIS. She also belonged to various bands, such as Lunatique Asylum around Oliver Potratz, with whom she performed internationally. She also teaches at the New Music School in Berlin.

Saito won first prize at the 3éme Concours International de Vibraphone, Claude Giot, the 3rd prize at the World Marimba Competition, the NTT-DoCoMo Award and the 1st Jazz Jazz Award 2002."

"Niko Meinhold studied at HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin, at Kungligan Musikhögskolan Stockholm. Masters at Jazzinstitut Berlin. Wrote compositions for solo instruments, ensembles, choir, orchestra. also for film, TV, and radio (like Rias Bigband and NDR Bigband) as well as for theatre and cd productions. Won Awards such as the Karl- Hofer- Award, the Berlin Senat Composers Grant, Award for best German University Ensemble for his trio Tritorn, Nordiska Kulturfondet Tourgrant for his Scandinavian group Northern Alliance for a Scandinavia tour accompanied by dancers. Toured and played on festivals in the USA, UK, Japan, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Colombia, Romania, South Korea, Senegal, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Ghana, Algeria, Poland, Serbia, and of course Germany. Frequent guest professor at the music faculty of Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá/ Colombia. Recently teaching at the University for Music and Theatre in Rostock."

"Tobias Schirmer (saxophone, clarinet)

Tobias Schirmer studied saxophone and clarinet at the University of Music "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin from 1997 to 2004, including Gerard Presencer, Gregoire Peters, Gebhard Ullmann and Jiggs Wigham. He has played with various ensembles from jazz and improvised music at home and abroad, including Jazzfestival Reykjavik 2005, Japantournee 2008, and has been involved in studios."