Takeshi Nagayasu, 27 (Japan)

Takeshi Nagayasu is a versatile and multifaceted pianist who has won many top prizes in competitions such as the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin, Jacob Flier, Rosamond Haeberle, Borderland Chopin, Texas State Piano Festival Concerto, and the International Robert Schumann Competition in Germany. In 2025, he reached the semifinal round of the Concours International Long-Thibaud in Paris and received a special prize for the best interpretation of Fauré’s Impromptu. He is a recipient of multiple scholarships, including awards from the Feltsman Piano Foundation, the Detroit Federation of Musicians, the Evelyn Bonar Storrs Scholarship from the Musical Club of Hartford, the Dominique Weber Scholarship from the Gijón International Piano Festival, and the Clara Wells Fellowship from the American Matthay Association. He has been invited to perform in prominent venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and Town Hall in New York City, and the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and has appeared with orchestras including the Seocho Philharmonia in South Korea, the Clara Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, and the Ocean Foundation Festival Orchestra in New York.

Takeshi is also a composer who studied with Philip Lasser and has written works for piano, ensembles, and chamber orchestra. His music has been performed and premiered at events such as the Portland International Piano Festival, the Michigan Recording Project, and the Gijón International Piano Festival in Spain. As an organist, he has studied with Isaac Lee and Theodore Cheng and is currently studying with Caroline Robinson. In 2025, he attained the Colleague Certification from the American Guild of Organists. He has performed as an organist in many churches, including St. Andrew Episcopal Church for the Division Street Pipes Concert Series. He is also studying fortepiano with Matthew Bengtson and carillon with Jenna Hyojin Moon.

Takeshi studied at the Juilliard School of Music and the Yale School of Music, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in piano performance at the University of Michigan. His teachers include Logan Skelton, Vladimir Feltsman, José Méndez, Melvin Chen, Boris Berman, Joseph Kalichstein, Matti Raekallio, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Xiaohe Xie, and Oleg Roschin. He received full scholarships to attend music festivals such as the International Keyboard Institute & Festival and PianoSummer at New Paltz. He has taught both private piano lessons and classroom courses at Yale and the University of Michigan and served as a teaching artist in the Music in Schools Initiative Program for creative music-making classes in New Haven. He has given masterclasses at California Polytechnic State University and Grand Valley State University as a guest artist. In 2025, he worked as a teaching fellow at the Classical Music Institute 210 Festival in San Antonio and served as a competition judge and masterclass instructor at the Borderland Chopin Festival. He is currently an instructor at Schoolcraft Academy in Michigan.