× Upcoming Events Dean's Circle Donate Email Sign-up Staff Shenandoah Conservatory Past Events
Shun Lopez
Percussion 2

Shun Kodaira Lopez was raised in Tokyo, Japan. Shun began his musical path when he was 4 with keyboard lessons. He started showing his interest in percussion/drums and began taking lessons at the age of 6. When he turned 8, he met his mentor who is a graduate of New England Conservatory and an acclaimed pianist, composer, and conductor known for his work in the television industry in Japan. With him, he embarked on intensive musical training from the ages of 8 to 9 including studies of the keyboard, drums, piano, and digital music.

At the age of 9, Shun won the Grand Prize in the V-Drums World Championship Japan Final 2012, a nationwide competition.

 At the age of 10, Shun began to study under the master drummer Kozo Suganuma. Shun Studied under Kozo until he moved to the United States at the age of 12. After moving to San Francisco, he began his classical percussion path at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the Instruction of Stephanie Webster and Tommy Kesecker. Shun also started classical piano studies with Machiko Kobialka. From 2015 - 2016 he joined Oakland Youth Orchestra(OYO) as a percussionist. Shun joined the OYO tour to Cuba in the summer of 2016, performing in multiple cities including Havana, Santa Clara, and Cienfuegos.

To pursue his interest in jazz fusion he began taking lessons from the well-known accomplished master drummer and educator, Tommy Igoe from the age of 12 through his high school years.

Shun was in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2018 to 2021. There he joined the SFSYO Europe Tour in the summer of 2019,  performing in multiple cities including Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, and Budapest. It is his best memory as a member of the SFSYO. Shun was the winner of the SFSYO Concerto Competition 2020, performing the Concerto for Drum set and Symphony Orchestra by Hristo Yotsov.

Shun graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-college Program and Stuart Hall High School in May 2021. Shun was awarded a scholarship to attend New York University where he has studied a wide variety of instruments such as marimba, congas, djembe, timpani, and many more. He is now a junior year student at NYU in Percussion Studies. He has joined multiple percussion ensembles such as the percussion chamber music ensemble, the NYU steel pan ensemble, the African Gyile Percussion Ensemble, and the NYU Broadway Orchestra. Shun played with the Grammy-winning orchestra, New York Youth Symphony in the spring of  2023.