The
Team
Sophie Steiner
Artistic Director of the Shirabe Festival
Sophie Steiner is an Austrian harpist and artistic director. She started her musical education at the age of 4 years and was awarded first prizes in national and international competitions. She won her first audition for entering an orchestra at the age of 14 and can now look back on a variety of productions with orchestras such as the “Hamburg Symphony Orchestra“, the “Lübecker Kammerphilharmonie“, or the “Hessischer Rundfunk Orchestra“.
Besides her interests in solo, orchestral, and chamber music, she also promotes the development of new concert concepts and performances and was therefore awarded the Masefield Prize 2015. Since then she has been constantly working on new performance designs and productions and initiated several projects in Europe and Asia. She performed, amongst others, for the Austrian embassies in Spain, Japan, and Norway and founded the project BreakingBorders, which aims to overcome cultural, social, and personal borders through music. She collaborates with ensembles and orchestras and designs new concert concepts to overcome the wall between musicians and audience. Among others she was the artistic director and harpist for the project "SoundColours" in cooperation with the Kammerphilharmonie Lübeck - creating an artistic space where music becomes visual art and cultures merge into one. Sophie Steiner was a student of Xavier de Maistre, Mari Kimura, and Isabelle Perrin. In addition, she participated in several masterclasses with musical authorities such as Catherine Michel (France), Isabelle Moretti (France), Margit Anna Sü.-Schellenberger (Germany), Aneleen Laenarts (Belgium), Sylvain Blassel (France), Judy Loman (Canada), Nancy Allen (USA) or Ernestine Stoop (Netherlands), to broaden her artistic
knowledge.
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She is member of the the ensemble "Trobar e Cantar" which specializes in old music and whose CD “DE:FINE AMOUR" was nominated for the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) 2019. Since 2016, Sophie has been working with composers to expand the harp's repertoire. For example, "Lamento d' Orfeo" by Fredrick Schwenk, "Intermezzo" by Niklas Anczykowski, or "Der Frühling" by Tony Uhm were composed for her. In 2022 she performed the world premiere of Kobayashi Akira's Harp Concerto No. 5 with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.
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She founded the Shirabe festival to enhance intercultural understanding, respect, and exchange worldwide through art and continues her work as an artistic director and harpist on an international stage. In 2022 she was prize winner of the Maria Ladenburger competition for her arrangement of Bach’s chaconne in d minor and featured through the WDR radio station as well as 1st prize winner of the Caneres international music competition and 1st prize winner of the London Classical Music competition. In 2023 she was silver medalist of the International Music Competition Vienna (all instruments) in the categories Virtuoso and Contemporary.
Manami Okazaki
Production Manager
Manami Okazaki is an internationally active singer and actress, director of TheaterArche, and cultural manager. She completed her master’s degree in Cultural Management at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw), writing her thesis on changes in artistic directorships and their impact on Viennese theatre institutions.
As a soprano, she has performed at renowned venues such as the Vienna State Opera, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Alte Oper Frankfurt, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. Since 2019, she has shaped the artistic profile of TheaterArche, creating her own productions and regularly appearing on its stage as a singer and actress. In 2020, she premiered her first monodrama Hikikomori, which was also shown in Luxembourg. The production Anstoß, in which she participated, was nominated for the Nestroy Prize.
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In 2025, she is coordinating the production The Revenge of the Bat – The Operetta, Only Completely Different as cultural manager and director of TheaterArche for Vienna’s Johann Strauss Year. The aim is to further develop the 2025 production, deepen it artistically, and make it accessible to a wider audience. She is responsible for overall organisation, ensemble work, and cooperation with other German-speaking theatres for the planned 2026 tour. The project combines contemporary themes such as equality, solidarity, and female empowerment with Viennese operetta tradition, establishing an innovative theatrical form sustainably within the city.
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In parallel, she is currently producing a new opera in Japan about Ginko Ogino, the first female gynecologist in Japan, thereby contributing to the visibility of historical women’s biographies. She works closely with the local community, contributing to regional development. The premiere is planned for summer 2027 in Kumagaya City.
As a singer and cultural manager, she actively connects Japan and Europe, builds networks across the music and theatre world, and develops community-oriented projects that bring new works and world premieres to the stage.
Linda Maria
Rodriguez Braña
Pedagogical Concept
Born in Vienna, Austria, with roots in Cuba and Hungary, Linda Maria Rodriguez Breña studied classical singing and pedagogy at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna – as well as the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, Japan. As a teacher and singer, she also promotes the importance of cultural exchange via musical mediation and innovative concepts.