Karen Kido was born in Tokyo and won First Prize at the Michelangelo Abbado Competition in Milan at the age of 14. She has since won Fourth Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition and the Special Prize at both the Georges Enescu and Leopold Mozart Competitions, which followed numerous domestic prizes in Japan. She has attended the Ozawa International Chamber Music programme in Okushiga and was invited to participate in the Miyazaki International Music Festival as a soloist. She has appeared with the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Baden-Baden Philharmonie, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Miyazaki International Music Festival Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Karen currently studies under Professors Asako Urushihara and Masafumi Hori at the Tokyo University of the Arts.