Born in New York City and raised in Japan, Chihiro Allen began playing the violin at the age of six and the viola at 17.  She joined the New York City Ballet Orchestra in 2017 and additionally is a member of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and an associate member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.  Ms. Allen has also performed with many other groups in and outside of NYC such as the the Saito-Kinen Orchestra of the Seiji Ozawa Festival in Matsumoto, Japan and previously a member of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, and assistant principal violist of the Valencia State Opera Orchestra of Spain. In 2006 and 2008 she received the Music Award from the New York Japanese-American Association and made her first recital appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall. 

During the Covid shutdown of Lincoln Center, Ms.Allen took advantage of her time away from her performance career to obtain a real estate license and started working as a salesperson in Westchester and the Bronx.  Although working in a different industry is new and exciting, music will always be her number one passion. 

Ms. Allen received her Bachelor of Music degree at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music studying under Junji Suganuma, and Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School studying under Masao Kawasaki.