Mari Sawada was born and grew up in Essen. At the age of four she started playing the violin with her mother. Later Prof. Keiko Wataya became her teacher and an important caregiver. The course took her from Utrecht via Aachen to Berlin, where she has lived since. Above all, she has been playing in Berlin with the soloist ensemble Kaleidoskop since 2007, with whom she feels deeply connected and very close to her heart. Other formative people in her live include Charles André Linale, Michael Vaiman, Joyce Tan and especially her family.