Keisuke Wakao was dreaming to become a professional baseball player while he was a young boy in Tokyo, Japan. When he was 13 years old, he changed his passion and goal to be a professional oboist.
Keisuke is assistant principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1990. He enjoyed fulfilling career and life until he was diagnosed with throat (tonsil) cancer in spring, 2017. The battle with this illness changed his life. After everything he’s gone through, he takes nothing for granted anymore. The sweet smell of flowers, the salty taste of soy sauce when he eats sushi and the moment he plays music with other colleagues with the orchestra - these are little things to many but for him, they are a reminder of his second chance.
More importantly, he is so much more grateful for everything... but especially for this opportunity to share his story with all of you, and to play Ava Maria with his 13 year-old daughter, Keila. Keisuke Wakao was appointed assistant principal oboe of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal oboe of the Boston Pops Orchestra in the fall of 1990. He was previously a member of the New World Symphony from its 1988 inaugural season. A native of Tokyo, Mr. Wakao performed with the New Japan Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa in 1985 and made his concerto debut with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama in the summer of 1989. He made his Tokyo recital debut in 1997 and performed with pianist Christoph Eschenbach in a recital at Sapporo’s 1998 Pacific Music Festival. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx