Mariko Smiley received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Juilliard, where she was a student of Dorothy DeLay. She has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony’s first violin section for over twenty years. She was also founding Concertmaster and soloist with Music in the Mountains Festival in Nevada City, CA, as well as a member of the Aurora String Quartet. The Aurora Quartet performed in the U.S. and abroad, and recorded the entire quartet works of Mendelssohn and Prokofiev for the Naxos label.
Ms. Smiley has been deeply involved with contemporary music as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral player. She has a two violin ensemble with her husband, Sarn Oliver: Tangled Duo, which has commissioned and premiered works for Ebb and Flow Music in Hawaii and California. In addition to teaching at UC Berkeley, Ms. Smiley maintains a private studio in Marin County.