Mika Sasaki

Pianist Mika Sasaki, born in Atlanta, has given solo and chamber music performances in the U.K., Italy, Japan, Switzerland, and throughout the U.S. Her debut album, Obsidian: Mika Sasaki plays Clara Schumann, was released on Yarlung Records in 2016. She has appeared on WQXR, WFMT, KQAC, and Radio Sweden, and has performed concertos with the Sinfonia of Cambridge (U.K.), New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, 92Y Orchestra, and more recently, with the InterSchool Symphony Orchestra of New York.

Sasaki has won awards at the Peabody Conservatory, the Soleil Music Competition in Tokyo, All Japan Classical Music Competition, and the NJSO Young Artists Audition. Her festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Tanglewood, Taos, pianoSonoma, Icicle Creek, Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Yellow Barn, Aspen, Estherwood, Focus!, Mannes Beethoven Institute, Shandelee, Caramoor, and Weekend of Chamber Music. She has served on the piano and chamber music faculties of the Rushmore Music Festival, Charles Ives Concert Series Chamber Music Intensive, and the Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard program in Geneva, Switzerland. She performs frequently with the Manhattan Chamber Players in New York City and the Chameleon Arts Ensemble in Boston, and is the pianist of Ensemble Mélange, a sextet that uniquely invites audience members to choose what they want to hear from a “menu” comprised of more than two dozen chamber music and vocal works.

Sasaki completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in piano performance from Juilliard, where she received the Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship as a graduate who demonstrated outstanding artistry and achievement in leadership, entrepreneurship, and breadth of engagement. From 2016 to 2018 season, Sasaki taught and performed as a pianist of Ensemble Connect (formerly Ensemble ACJW), a fellowship program of the Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall and the Weill Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. She has studied with Olegna Fuschi, Seiko Ezawa, Benjamin Pasternack, Gilbert Kalish, and Joseph Kalichstein. In addition to teaching keyboard studies at Juilliard, Sasaki also teaches keyboard skills and piano in the Extension.