Born in Tokyo, Akemi Naito graduated from the University Division at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Music Composition and moved to the United States in 1991 when she received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council. She resides in New York City. Naito is a recipient of awards and grants from organization including the first Aaron Copland Award, Bellagio Residency from the Rockefeller Foundation, Chamber Music America in conjunction with Cygnus Ensemble, New York Foundation for the Arts and resident fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell. Her works have been performed at the festivals in Patagonia, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Poland, the Netherlands, Australia, Norway, US, Japan among others. Her CD album Within My Soul was released by Ravello Records in 2019, Mindscape by Bridge Records in 2006 and Strings & Time by CRI in 1997. In addition, her compositions can be heard on EMI, ALM, URTEXT, New Focus Recordings, and Camerata Tokyo. Her recent work, composed for acclaimed male vocal quartet, New York Polyphony, is included on their new album, “Sky of My Heart”, released June 13th, 2025 on BIS. Her works have been published by HoneyRock, AUGEMUS and SONIC ARTS.