Born in 2006, Keila Wakao is from Chestnut Hill, MA, and began playing the violin at age 3. Former BSO concertmaster Joseph Silverstein accepted her as a student when she was 6 years old. From age 9, she studied with Donald Weilerstein. She worked with Itzhak Perlman and participated in the Perlman Music Program in summers 2018-2022. Currently, Keila is an undergraduate student of Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory as a Starling Foundation Full Scholarship recipient.​

Keila Wakao won 1st Prize in the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition Junior Division and the composer award for outstanding performance of a commissioned work, and was also awarded the Gold Medal and Bach Prize at the 2021 Stulberg International String Competition. In 2023, she was awarded the Aoyama Music Foundation Award in Japan for upcoming artists. She also won 1st prize in the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, where she performed alongside the BSO and Thomas Wilkins in the BSO Family Concert in October 2023, and is a recipient of Charlotte White's Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant in New York. In 2024, she was awarded the Next Generation Distinguished Cultural Achievement Award from the Japan Society of Boston, and was also featured on CBS Boston’s television news. ​