Violinist Master Gunnery Sergeant Erika Sato of Portland, Ore., joined “The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra in August 2003.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Sato began her musical training at age 3. After graduating in 1994 from Beaverton High School in Beaverton, Ore., she attended The Juilliard School in New York, where she earned a bachelor of music degree in 1998 and a master of music degree in 2000. She studied with Kathryn Gray of the Oregon Symphony in Portland and Masao Kawasaki at Juilliard.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” Master Gunnery Sgt. Sato was a titled and tenured member of the Colorado Symphony in Denver, a frequent performer with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opera house orchestra in Washington, D.C., and performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in Newark. She has given recitals and made solo appearances across the country with such groups as the Colorado Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, and the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colo. Master Gunnery Sgt. Sato has participated in music festivals in Aspen, Colo.; Banff, Alberta, Canada; Norfolk, Conn.; Spoleto in Charleston, S.C., and Italy; and at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. She has also appeared as a guest artist with the Strings in the Mountains in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Sato performs regularly at the White House for State Dinners, receptions, and other White House functions, and throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. She is a frequently featured soloist with the Marine Chamber Orchestra and has performed J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050 and Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV 1060; Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19; and Igor Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major. She has also participated in the Marine Band’s Music in the Schools initiative and has given master classes and clinics at local area schools and universities such as Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and University of Maryland, Baltimore County.