Ririko Sakaguchi is a marimba and percussion player from Ina, Saitama. She began piano at six and percussion in her middle-school wind band at twelve. She studied at Saitama Prefectural Matsubushi High School’s music department, Tokyo College of Music, and its master’s program.
Sakaguchi won first prize and the Hyogo Governor’s Award in the percussion C division of the 21st KOBE International Music Competition in 2016, and first prize in the percussion division of the 16th Tokyo College of Music Competition in 2017. In 2018, she received the Absolute first prize with a perfect score of 100 and the Adams Special Award in the marimba B division of the 16th Italy Percussion Competition. She won third prize in the professional adult marimba division at the 4th IPEA International Percussion Competition in Shanghai in 2019. That year, she appeared at the 35th Percussion Newcomers Concert, organized by the Japan Percussion Association, receiving its top prize and Iwaki Award, and also appeared at the 89th Newcomers Concert organized by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
She has studied percussion and marimba with Atsushi Sugawara, Momoko Kamiya, Hidemi Murase, Takafumi Fujimoto, Rie Iwasaki, Rika Fujii, and Yoshiki Higashi. She also attended Simone Rubino’s masterclass organized by Tokyo College of Music in fiscal 2017.
In 2020, Sakaguchi opened Ina Music Studio in Ina, Saitama, and in 2021 became an Ina Town ambassador. She is currently an instructor at Ina Music Studio and a wadaiko instructor at Onken Culture School. She is a member of Marimba & Percussion Duo FoRest, marimba duo Hiramekirameki, and marimba duo Mariful. Her work includes solo, ensemble, wind-band, and orchestral performance, as well as private lessons and outreach lessons for school wind bands.