Ayaka Hirahara

Ayaka Hirahara (平原 綾香 Hirahara Ayaka?, born May 9, 1984 in Tokyo) is a Japanese pop singer affiliated with the Dreamusic label. Hirahara comes from a musical family; her father Makoto Hirahara is a saxophone player, her grandfather Tsutomu Hirahara was a trumpet player, and her older sister Aika Hirahara is also a singer. Ayaka was a member of the Matsuyama Ballet for 11 years, beginning at age 6. She started playing saxophone when she was 13 years old, then learned classical saxophone at Senzoku Gakuen High School. Currently, she is studying in the Faculty of Jazz majoring in saxophone at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. Her first single, "Jupiter", was released in Japan in December 2003, and went on to be one of the biggest selling singles of 2004. The melody of the song is based on the "Jupiter" movement in The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst. Similarly, the melody of her song "Siciliana" is based on the piece by Johann Sebastian Bach named Siciliano.