Karen Aoki
- Director of Student Programs, Department of Development of Consciousness
- Email Me
- Dreier Building, Room 118
Karen Martha Aoki grew up in Tokyo, Japan, where she trained under Lorant Kovacs, visiting professor from the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and Sanae Nakayama, professor of flute at the Musashino Academy of Music in Tokyo.
At the age of 15, Karen traveled to the United States, where she studied flute with Tyra Gilb at the Interlochen Arts Academy, a performing arts preparatory school in northern Michigan, graduating with honors. In 2005, Karen received her Bachelor’s Degree in Flute Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Bonita Boyd.
She has taken master classes with Jacques Zoon and Peter Lloyd at the Oxford Flute Summer School in Oxford, England, and with Thomas Robertello. She has also taken private lessons at the Tanglewood Institute with Fenwick Smith of the Boston Symphony. Karen has participated in music festivals around the country and in Austria.
After completing a master’s degree in Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi International University, she went to Mussoorie, India to teach piano at the Woodstock School, a boarding school in Northern India. In 2016 Karen completed her doctoral degree in Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi International University, where she also studied in Indian classical flute under classical flutist Binay Krishna Baral.
Karen is now Assistant Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science and Sanskrit at Maharishi International University.