Hideaki Aomori is one of the most experienced and versatile woodwind musicians of his generation. Based in Los Angeles, he plays the clarinet, saxophone, and flute, and has toured and recorded with many singer-songwriters and bands at the forefront of popular music today, including Paul Simon, Bon Iver, Ben Folds, Bruce Hornsby, John Legend, and Sufjan Stevens. Trained in both jazz and classical music, Hideaki has performed both written and improvised music at venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Bonnaroo Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Saturday Night Live, the Tony Awards, and Madison Square Garden. As an educator, Hideaki has given lectures and lessons in clarinet and saxophone at universities and institutions throughout the United States and Japan.
Hideaki has worked with acclaimed ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, The Knights, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and the Philip Glass Ensemble. He is a founding member of yMusic, a six-person chamber ensemble described by NPR as “one of the groups that has really helped to shape the future of classical music.” yMusic has premiered over 50 new works, including new compositions written collectively by the ensemble. Hideaki has also released two critically acclaimed solo albums featuring clarinet music by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Burgmüller, and Draeseke. He has a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance from the Juilliard School, where he worked with Ayako Oshima and Charles Neidich, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Performance from Stony Brook University, where he worked with Daniel Gilbert.
In addition to his classical training, Hideaki has extensive experience as a jazz saxophonist. As a teenager, he was mentored by the late jazz pianist Sir Roland Hanna, who he toured and recorded with in the United States and Japan. He has also toured extensively in Japan with the New York Jazz Expressway with saxophonist Antonio Hart, trumpet player Michael Philip Mossman, and drummer Jean Jackson. Hideaki’s jazz record Glue features original compositions and arrangements on both saxophone and clarinet. Recent collaborators include Ambrose Akinmusire, and the funk band Scary Pockets.
In addition to collaborating with many prominent singer-songwriters and popular artists, Hideaki played clarinets, flutes, and saxophones on several Broadway shows, including the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Ghost, Matilda, and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Since moving to LA, he has shifted his focus to his home recording studio; he has contributed arrangements and improvised parts for award winning films, rock bands, animations, and commercial jingles. Most recently, he can be heard playing bass clarinet on Son Lux’s Yesterday’s Wake EP, and taking a tenor sax solo on the Oscar nominated film If Beale Street Could Talk.