Pianist Sara Davis Buechner is “a musician of “intelligence, integrity and all- encompassing technical prowess” (The 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.”
Recipient of the highest award in the history of the Juilliard School, the Van Cliburn Scholarship and Prize, Ms. Buechner proceeded in her twenties to capture 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.
Pianists such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Van Cliburn, Rudolf Firkušny, Byron Janis, Garrick Ohlsson, and André Watts have all championed her artistry. In 2025 she was personally invited by Martha Argerich to perform duos with her at the Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg, Germany.
The breathtaking range of Sara Davis Buechner’s repertoire includes 125 piano concertos ranging from A (Albeníz) to Z (Zimbalist), which she has performed internationally with the world’s great orchestras: New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Montréal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Honolulu, Shanghai and Tokyo; the CBC Radio Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, City of Birmingham (U.K.) Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Moscow Radio Symphony, Kuopio (Finland) Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (Spain). Audiences have applauded Ms. Buechner’s recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl; and she enjoys wide success throughout Asia where she tours annually.
Sara Davis Buechner’s 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 Ferruccio 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.
Sara Davis Buechner has given important new music premières by numerous composers, including John Corigliano, Richard Danielpour, Ray Green, Miriam Hyde, Dick Hyman, Vitězslavá Kaprálová, Jared Miller, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Yukiko Nishimura, David Raksin, Miklós Rózsa and Péter Wolf. She has also collaborated with performance artist Nori Nke Aka, Japanese mime mask-maker Yayoi Hirano, and toured extensively as music director of the Mark Morris Dance Group.
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 at prestigious institutions like the Juilliard School, Royal Academy of London, Indiana University and Shanghai Conservatory. Ms. Buechner 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 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 forty years.
A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, Ms. Buechner makes her home in beautiful Newark, New Jersey.