Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
featuring paintings by Peter London
and music by Ryan Suleiman (Ph.D. music ‘20)

Program

Ryan Suleiman: Three London Etudes (2024)
   Radiant
   Floating Triptych
   Electric Clouds

Claude Debussy: L’isle Joyeuse (1904)

Franz Liszt: “Sposalizio” from Second Year of Pilgrimage: Italy (1858)

Free, a Shinkoskey Noon Concert

About the Artists

Boston-based pianist Sakurako Kanemitsu is a colorful and creative interpreter of music ranging from the established classical repertoire to the music of our time. She began her studies at the age of 5 in Tokyo, Japan, and has since performed as soloist and a chamber pianist in Italy, Germany, and the United States. Recent projects include a collaboration with Nightingale Vocal Ensemble on Andrew List’s Journey of Seasons, duo concerts with acclaimed soprano Rose Hegele. She also recently took part in a residency at UC Davis with award-winning choreographer Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya, and cellist Michael Dahlberg in which they created new works with composition students at UC Davis. Sakurako earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from Sacramento State School of Music, where she worked as a teaching assistant and administrative assistant for the School of Music’s Piano Series. Her previous teachers include Steinway Artists Richard Cionco, Kirsten Smith, Natsuki Fukasawa, and Tanya Gabrielian. Sakurako recently completed her Graduate Performance Diploma at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the Barbara Roth Donaldson Scholar where she studied with Grammy-nominated and acclaimed pianist Andrius Žlabys.

Ryan Suleiman was born to Lebanese and midwestern parents in Sacramento, California. His music engages with dreaming, the natural world, and the understated beauty of everyday life. His one-act chamber opera, Moon, Bride, Dogs, was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a gem” with “an aesthetic that is at once so strange and so accessible.” While his artistic interests vary, he seeks ways of conveying the simultaneity of beauty and dread that characterizes our times. To this end, he is currently working on a portrait concert in collaboration with The Fourth Wall Ensemble called Symbiosis, which embraces the connection between theatricality and classical music. This project, which also includes a new work, will be premiered at Boston Conservatory at Berklee in Spring 2025.

Other recent projects include an art song for soprano Rose Hegele, and an opera called The School for Girls Who Lost Everything in the Fire, with writer Cristina Fríes (M.F.A. creative writing ‘19), which was developed with the support of West Edge Opera. Ryan completed his Ph.D. at UC Davis and his bachelor’s degree at the Sacramento State School of Music. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music and has held teaching positions at Sacramento State and UC Davis. He also teaches composition privately. Ryan currently resides in Boston with his partner and three furry animals. More available at www.ryansuleiman.com.