Kaoru Hinata has performed with the New York City Opera Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, and has been a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. She was the winner of the Lawrence Beauregard Competition in Canada and a prize winner in the Myrna Brown Competition in Texas, and has premiered works by many composers including Christopher Theofanidis and Dan Cooper. She holds degrees from Northwestern University and Yale University, and her major teachers include Walfrid Kujala, Ransom Wilson, and Keith Underwood. In demand as a teacher, she is on the flute faculty of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and has given master classes across the country.