Hailed by The Washington Post as “A pianist’s pianist,” Ryo has established himself as one of Canada’s shining artists. His success includes winning the gold medal at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition, and garnering the grand prize at the Hugo Kauder International Piano Competition. Ryo has made concerto appearances with orchestras around the world, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Kioi Symphonietta. His performances have taken him to such venues as the Kennedy Center, The National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Salle Cortot in Paris, among others.

A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist, and is a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association. He was also awarded the Sony Foundation of America Career Grant through the Salon de Virtuosi of New York, and a Washington Award by the S&R Foundation of Washington, D.C.. He has also released two solo CDs consisting of works by Chopin and Debussy, as well as a CD in collaboration with the cellist Dai Miyata in Japan.

Ryo Yanagitani received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. He was a visiting assistant professor of piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and held the position of artistic director at the Ryuji Ueno Foundation in Washington, D.C., an organization that supports highly talented individuals in the field of the performing arts. He is currently a visiting adjunct assistant professor of collaborative piano at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia.

Photo by Jacques Lee Wood