Loyola Presents: Guest Pianist Takeshi Nagayasu

Takeshi Nagayasu is a versatile pianist who has been recognized and has won many
top prizes in competitions such as the Kosciuszko Foundation, Jacob Flier, Artist
Presentation Society, Borderland Chopin, Nashville Chopin, Rosamond Haeberle,
Texas State Piano Festival Concerto, and the International Robert Schumann
Competition in Germany. He has reached the semifinal round and received a special
prize for the best interpretation of Fauré Impromptu at the Concours International
Long-Thibaud in Paris. He is a recipient of multiple scholarships including awards
from the Feltsman Piano Foundation and the Detroit Federation of Musicians, the
Evelyn Bonar Storrs Scholarship from the Musical Club of Hartford, Dominique
Weber Scholarship from the Gijon international piano festival, as well as the Clara
Wells Fellowship from the American Matthay Association. He has been invited to
perform in prominent venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and Town Hall in
New York City, and Opéra-Comique in Paris. He has appeared with orchestras
including the Seocho Philharmonia in South Korea, Clara Schumann Philharmonic
Orchestra in Germany, and Ocean Foundation Festival Orchestra in New York.
Takeshi is also a composer who has studied with Philip Lasser and has written many
pieces for piano, ensembles, and chamber orchestra. His music has been performed
and premiered in events like Portland International Piano Festival, Michigan
Recording Project, and the Gijón International Piano Festival in Spain. As an organist,
he has studied with Isaac Lee and Theodore Cheng, and is currently studying with
Caroline Robinson. He attained the Colleague Certification from The American Guild
of Organists. Performance highlights include appearance at the Division Street Pipes
Concert Series. He has collaborated with Chelsea Chamber Players, Hometown
Holiday Concert Orchestra and Choir, and Ann Arbor Community Orchestra. As a
carillonneur, he studied with Jenna Hyojin Moon, passed the Associate Carillonneur
Exam of The Guild of Carillonneur in North America, and is currently studying with
Tiffany Ng. He is also studying fortepiano with Matthew Bengtson. He has been
invited to participate in music festivals that focus on historical instruments, such as
Academy of Fortepiano in New York as well as Chamber Music Collective and
Fortepiano Tech Academy at Cornell University.

Takeshi studied at Juilliard School of Music, Yale School of Music, and is currently
pursuing a doctoral degree in piano performance at the University of Michigan. His
teachers include Logan Skelton, Vladimir Feltsman, José Méndez, Melvin Chen,
Boris Berman, Joseph Kalichstein, Matti Raekallio, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Xiaohe
Xie, and Oleg Roschin. He also received full scholarships to study at music festivals
such as International Keyboard Institute & Festival and PianoSummer at New Paltz.
He has taught both solo piano lessons as well as in the classroom at Yale and the
University of Michigan. He was also a teaching artist in the Music in Schools
Initiative Program for creative music making classes in New Haven.He has given
master classes at California Polytechnic State University, Grand Valley State
University, and Freed-Hardeman University as a guest artist. In 2025, he worked as a
teaching fellow at the Classical Music Institute 210 Festival in San Antonio. In the
same year, he served as a competition judge and taught masterclasses in the
Borderland Chopin Festival. Previously at Schoolcraft Academy, he is currently
teaching at Hillsdale College.