Motomi Igarashi, a native of Japan, has played the double bass since she was 12. She received first prize at the Aspen Music Festival Double Bass competition, has given double bass solo recitals and appears as a concert soloist with orchestras in the USA, England and Japan. Motomi studied double bass with Eugene Levinson at the Juilliard School. After graduating from the Juilliard school, she went to France to study viola da gamba. She traveled throughout Europe and spent several years in intensive study with Marianne Muller, Wieland Kuijken, and Paolo Pandolfo and lirone with Erin Headley. Since returning from Paris she has been playing the viola da gamba, violone, the baroque double bass and lirone with various groups such as The American Classical Orchestra, Anima, Artek, Bach Collegium Japan, BEMF, the Concert Royal, Foundling Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Long Island Baroque, and has appeared as a soloist, performing the Brandenburg No. 6 with the New York Philharmonic. Motomi does more than early music, and is featured on the Nathalie Merchant album “Leave your Sleep” and she plays with Jazz pianist Kevin Hays.