Multi award-winning pianist Yuko Sano is known for her virtuosity and magical sound making with unlimited colors. She was born in Tokyo and her international career as a concert pianist began at the age of eight in Salzburg. She has performed in over 40 cities across Asia, Europe, the UK, the USA, and South America as well as in Japan, including solo appearances with eminent orchestras. In October 2013, she made her London debut at the Southbank Centre for the festival ‘The Rest is Noise’. Since then she has performed at Abbey Road Studios, St. John’s Smith Square, St Martin in the Fields, Steinway Hall, and the Embassy of Japan in the UK. In 2018, the British government granted her the prestigious ‘Tier-1 Exceptional Talent’ UK visa in recognition of her remarkable international musical career.
Yuko Sano graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) after studying at the Liszt Music Academy in Budapest for one year. In 2013, she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where she completed her MA with a Dip RAM distinction and graduated with the Walter MacFarren Prize, the Nancy Dickinson Award, and the Maud Hornsby Award. In 2016, she completed her Advanced Diploma at the Academy under the tutelage of Christopher Elton. 2017, she contributed to the success of the first Super Global High school Project by coordinating an exchange programme between Geiko Music High school in Japan and the Royal Academy of Music in London, supported by the Japanese Government.
Her debut album 'Kotoba' was released in 2018 to great critical acclaim and includes the Japan premiere performance of Stephen Hough’s Piano Sonata No.1. In 2014, Yuko Sano was the first Japanese pianist to become a Young Steinway Artist, then a full Steinway Artist in 2018. She was invited to New York to record for Steinway’s Spirio catalogue last March and her recordings are now available on Spirio worldwide.