Megumi Kanda, a native of Tokyo, Japan, began to play the trombone at age ten. She continued her study at the prestigious Toho High School of Music in Tokyo, where she studied with Sumio Miwa, trombonist of the NHK Symphony. At age fifteen, she became the youngest player ever to be named as one of the top ten trombonists at the Japanese Wind and Percussion Competition. Two years later she won the Grand Prize in the National Competition for Solo Trombone and won best soloist prize upon graduation from the Toho High School of Music. Kanda came to the United States in 1994, and received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with James DeSano, the principal trombonist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Now the principal trombonist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, she has previously served as a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, faculty member of the Eastman School of Music Community Education Division, and principal trombonist of the Albany Symphony Orchestra.