Maya Iwabuchi began violin lessons at the age of two. Her main teachers were Ms. Alice Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Rodney Friend MBE at the Royal College of Music in London.

Maya Iwabuchi has enjoyed an international career as a solo violinist, chamber musician and orchestral leader since her first concert at age five. Her playing has been hailed by critics as ‘simply brilliant’ (Strad), ‘gorgeous’ (Times) and ‘absolutely stunning’ (HeraldScotland), and she continues to receive the highest praise from the press. Her performances have taken her to concert halls, such as London’s Royal Festival and Wigmore Halls, Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, New York City’s Lincoln Centre and Carnegie Hall, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.
Solo highlights for Maya  include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia and Royal Scottish National orchestras, and she has appeared in numerous renowned music festivals, including the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Bath, Chichester and Edinburgh festivals, and the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove.

A sought-after chamber musician, Maya was a member of the award-winning Mobius Ensemble, and she has collaborated with artists such as the Vellinger Quartet, Boris Giltburg, Brett Dean and Karen Cargill. Much of her work is regularly broadcast by the BBC and Classic FM.

Maya served as Leader of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1994 to 2012, leading for conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kurt Sanderling and Sir Andras Schiff. She has been regularly invited as concertmaster by many of the major UK orchestras, such as the BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony and the John Wilson Orchestra.

Maya has resided in Scotland since 2010, where she devotes much of her time as Leader of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and as a member of the faculty at Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. When not playing her Fabrizio Senta violin circa 1685, she relishes spending as much time as she can with her musical doctor husband and in the company of family and friends – usually a table groaning with good food and wine is close by.