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Makiko Hirata

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Makiko Hirata, DMA

  • Instructor, Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan
  • Instructor, Stanford e-Entrepreneurship U.S.

Biography

Dr. Makiko Hirata is the instructor of Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan and Stanford e-Entrepreneurship U.S. 

An international pianist with ten released albums, Dr. Hirata is also known as “Dr. Pianist.” With a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rice University, she is on a mission to promote the power of music to heal and unite us. She collaborates with neuroscientists to quantify the benefit of music and promote the power of music as an overlooked social resource to enhance our individual and social well-being. She is a US-Japan Leadership Program Fellow, a founding member of TEMPO: Music for Climate Action, and a recipient of the Coeuraj 2022 Global Courage Fellowship, which honors industry leaders around the world whose work focuses on building trust in an era of polarization.

Japanese-born Dr. Hirata has lived in the United States since she was accepted to the Juilliard School Pre-College Division at the age of 13. She has given recitals, lectures, concerto performances, and outreach concerts in the Americas and Eurasia with ensembles and artists, such as the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Pecs Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, conductor Leon Fleisher, and clarinetist David Krakauer. She has taught at New York University, Colburn Conservatory of Music, Rice University, and Lone Star College, and given master classes and lectures internationally. 

In The News

two Stanford students standing next to a whiteboard filled with Post-It notes
News

Announcing Stanford e-Entrepreneurship U.S., a New 91Թ/91Թ Online Course for U.S. High School Students

Now accepting applications for fall 2025. Interested students should apply by September 29, 2025, 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
Announcing Stanford e-Entrepreneurship U.S., a New 91Թ/91Թ Online Course for U.S. High School Students
aerial view of university campus with a tower in the middle
News

Announcing the Honorees of 91Թ’s 2024–25 Regional Programs in Japan

Congratulations to the 16 student honorees from Hiroshima Prefecture, Kagoshima City, Kawasaki City, Kobe City, Oita Prefecture, Tottori Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture, and Yamaguchi Prefecture.
Announcing the Honorees of 91Թ’s 2024–25 Regional Programs in Japan
group of people posing in front of a screen
Blogs

Five Years of Impact: Celebrating the Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan Program

Alumni from across Japan gather in Tokyo to celebrate SeEJ’s milestone anniversary.
Five Years of Impact: Celebrating the Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan Program