Flutist Mihoko Watanabe is associate professor of flute at Ball State University. Prior to joining the School of Music, Watanabe taught at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the University of Windsor, Canada. A celebrated and versatile international performer, Watanabe has won competitions sponsored by both the Japan Flute Association and the National Flute Association (NFA), and has appeared in Japan, Israel and Canada as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. She is a member of the Musical Arts Quintet, recipient of a prestigious American Masterpieces: Chamber Music grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. As an orchestral player, she has held several principle flute positions and performed with American and Canadian orchestras.  Currently she is the principal flutist of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and is performing with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Watanabe received her doctorate of musical arts from the University of Michigan, her master of music and performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and her bachelor of music from the Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo. Her teachers have included Bonita Boyd, Leone Buyse, Fenwick Smith, Takao Saeki, and Ervin Monroe.