Flutist Mihoko Watanabe, a native of Japan, is Assistant Professor of Flute at Ball State University. Prior to joining the School of Music, Dr. Watanabe taught at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, the Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Windsor, Canada. A celebrated and versatile international performer, Dr. Watanabe has won competitions sponsored by both the Japan Flute Association and the National Flute Association (NFA), and has appeared in Japan, Israel and Canada as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. She is a member of the faculty woodwind quintet at Ball State University, the Musical Arts Quintet (MAQ). The MAQ has been awarded the prestigious 2010 American Masterpieces grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support a performance tour and CD, entitled “American Breeze, ” which will be released in Spring 2012. Also, she is a member of DUO VIVA (two flutes), with whom she recorded “Doppler Effect,” and released by Little Piper. She has held several principle flute positions and performed with American and Canadian orchestras. Currently she is the principal flutist of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and is performing with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, she will be premiering, From Days of Yore, a flute concerto written by Jody Nagle with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra. A very active teacher, Dr. Watanabe travels widely as a clinician, presenting masterclasses throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. She has adjudicated at international music festivals and competitions. In the summer of 2005, she served on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center summer festival and was featured in the December 2009 issue of Flute Talk magazine. This summer 2012, she will be serving on the faculty of the InterHarmony Music Festival in Italy. In addition to being a gifted flutist, Dr. Watanabe is also devoted to the field of ethnomusicology, which she studied at the University of Michigan. Her interest in Japanese traditional music led to a faculty development grant from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in order to research Kazuo Fukushima’s Mei for solo flute in Japan. Her research resulted in a feature article in the Spring 2008 issue of the Flutist Quarterly, and led to lecture recitals at the 2007 NFA Convention and the 2010 British Flute Association Convention in England. In 2011, the article was translated into Dutch and published in Fluit, the official journal of the Dutch Flute Association. Currently, Dr. Watanabe serves as the president of the Greater Indianapolis Flute Club and is a member of NFA committees. Dr. Watanabe received her Doctorate degree from the University of Michigan, her Master degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and her Bachelor degree from the Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo. Her teachers have included Bonita Boyd, Leone Buyse, Fenwick Smith, Takao Saeki and Ervin Monroe.