Pianist Yuta Sugano is known for interpretations that integrate his experience in historical performance practice and piano technology. An avid performer, he has appeared as soloist in Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Spain, and the United States, among others.

Yuta began his piano studies at the age of five, and by age eleven he made his concerto debut performing with the Kansai Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Japan. He has since been a recipient of numerous prizes and scholarships including Meiko Miyazawa Award, Yamaha President’s Award (Japan), Glenn E. LeClair Graduate Piano Award (USA), and Zodiac Music Academy’s Chamber Musician Award (France). An active chamber musician, Yuta Sugano has collaborated with notable clarinetists Boris Allakhverdyan, Stanislav Golovin, and Emil Khudyev, cellists Emanuel Gruber and Kenji Sasaki, and violinist-conductor Farhkhad Khudyev. His recently released solo CD Romanticism in 1828, published by Rose Planet label in Japan, has won glowing reviews from multiple critics and media outlets.

Former teachers and mentors include Kazuko Akiya, Yoshikazu Nagai, Arthur Greene, Steven Spooner, and Meiko Miyazawa. While at the University of Michigan, Yuta also studied historical performance practice and the fortepiano extensively with renowned fortepianist, Penelope Crawford.

When he is not performing, Yuta enjoys all things piano. He apprenticed with the piano technology department while at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. There he was trained to tune, service, and rebuild keyboard instruments including the harpsichord, fortepiano, as well as the modern piano. At the University of Michigan, he worked as an assistant piano technician, overseeing the practice room pianos. He has served as guest artist and speaker at the yearly C. F. Theodore Steinway Technical Academy at Oberlin Conservatory since 2009.

As a member of the Music Teachers National Association, Yuta has appeared as presenter and performer at both state and national conferences. He is currently on the faculty at the Arts Academy at the Steinway Gallery of Detroit and is a visiting lecturer of piano and music theory at the Illumine Star Academy in Ontario, Canada.

DM, University of Kansas
MM, University of Michigan
BM, Oberlin Conservatory of Music