Naoki Sato

Born in Gunma (Japan) in 1987, he started playing the flute at the age of eleven. In 2007, he began his studies at the Kyoto City University of Arts with Professor Yoshimi Oshima. In 2011, he continued in Germany with Waldo Ceunen at Hamburger Konservatorium and in 2015 at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Professor Hans-Udo Heinzmann.

While still a university student, he began his professional career in Jönköping Sinfonietta in Sweden and was later the principal player of the Swedish NorrlandsOperan. He joined the Czech Philharmonic as the principal flutist.