Pianist Sara Davis Buechner is a musician of “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times), a performer of “fascinating and astounding virtuosity” (Philippine Star), renowned for her “thoughtful artistry in the full service of music” (Washington Post). Her performances around the globe are “never less than 100% committed and breathtaking” (Pianoforte Magazine, London).

Japan’s InTune magazine puts it simply. “When it comes to clarity, flawless tempo selection, phrasing and precise control of timbre, Buechner has no superior.”

In her twenties, Ms. Buechner was the winner of a bouquet of prizes at the world’s première piano competitions — Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, Leeds, Salzburg, Sydney and Vienna. She won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tschaikowsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

Her breathtaking range of repertoire includes 125 piano concertos ranging from A (Albeníz) to Z (Zimbalist), which she has performed internationally with the world’s great orchestras. Her numerous recordings have received prominent critical appraisal. The New York Times anointed her CD of piano music by Rudolf Friml a “revelation,” and devoted its Sunday Arts & Leisure section to her world première recording of Busoni’s version of Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations. Her traversals of American music by George Gershwin, Dana Suesse, Joseph Lamb, Florence Price and Hollywood film composers have all won recording prizes, and she is one of the only prominent concert pianists to perform and record original scores for silent motion pictures.

The broad sweep of Ms. Buechner’s artistry is presented in her autobiographical stage show “Of Pigs and Pianos,” which she wrote, produced and starred in to acclaim from the New York Times and other media in 2022. She continues to appear in the show yearly, with its première at the International Gilmore Festival in 2026.

Ms. Buechner is Piano Chair of the Greenwich House Music School in New York City, Professor of Piano at Temple University in Philadelphia, and an Adjunct Professor at New York University. She has presented lectures and masterclasses worldwide, edited numerous books and scores during her tenure as principal music editor for Dover Publications International, and has made numerous internet pedagogy videos for the ToneBase platform.

As the most prominent transgender musician of our time, Sara Davis Buechner appears often as a spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ community. Her love of both baseball and Japanese culture is well known, and in addition to appearances at the New York Mets Pride Night festivities, she is an honorary team member of the Hanshin Tigers of Osaka, Japan. In 2022 she was the first non-Japanese ever invited as guest entertainer at the New York Japan Society Annual Dinner, and returned to emcee that event in 2025. She has been a dedicated Yamaha Artist for nearly 40 years.

A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, Ms. Buechner makes her home in beautiful Newark, New Jersey.