Kanae Matsumoto
 Pianist Kanae Matsumoto is active as a soloist and chamber musician. She has been invited to give solo recitals in such music festivals as the Third International Conservatoire Week (St. Petersburg, Russia), the Aichi World Expo (Nagoya, Japan), Epiphany Music Guild (Los Angeles), and Hi-Desert Concert Series (Joshua Tree.) Highlights of her collaborative activities of the recent years include an appearance with the Chamber Music Society of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall and a performance of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas in Toronto and at the Chautauqua Music Festival in New York with the distinguished violinist Jacques Israelievitch. Her performance was described as “unfailingly crisp, warm, and sensitive throughout the fiendishly difficult piano parts…” (showtimemagazine.ca).
 
Artist Website: www.kanaematsumoto.com
 
Born in Japan, Ms. Matsumoto started her music education at the age of 5. As a teenager, she won several nationally regarded piano competitions. After completing the Master’s program in piano performance at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music with a Distinction Honor, she moved to the United States to continue her piano studies with renowned Russian pianist and pedagogue, Vitaly Margulis. Under his guidance, she earned her Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. During her study at UCLA, she received a number of scholarships and awards. In 2006 she joined the faculty of UCLA. During the summer she serves as a faculty collaborative pianist at the Chautauqua Institution Music Festival in New York.