​Praised as an “outstanding pianist...unfailingly crisp, warm and sensitive” (Showtime

Magazine, Toronto), Kanae Matsumoto Giampietro has been performing extensively

diversified her repertoire from solo, chamber to vocal music as well as committing in

musicians of the new generation including pianist, chamber musicians, and classical

singers.

​

Devoted in developing young classical singers’ voice, Kanae currently serve as a vocal

coach and a staff pianist at the Vocal Arts of Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard

School respectively. Many singers whom she has coached at MSM have moved on to

enjoy their professional singing careers in such companies as the US tour of The Phantom

Of The Opera, Adler Fellow of the San Francisco Opera, the Lindemann Young Artist

Development Program of the Met Opera. At Juilliard, she plays the vocal arts

department’s various activities from individual coaching to the classes of Artist

Diploma of Opera Studies. In 2016-2024, she was a vocal coach at the Marlena Malas’

Opera Conservatory at Chautauqua Institution.

​

Kanae’s collaborations include those with the instrumentalists. She is a founding

member of M&M Piano Duo, with Canadian pianist Martin Dubé. She has appeared in

numerous recitals and concerts including the chamber music concert series with the Los

Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Society at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Highlights of

her collaborative performances include the recitals with the late Jacques Israelievitch,

former concert master of Toronto Symphony, performing the complete Beethoven Violin

Sonatas and the complete Brahms Violin and Viola Sonatas. With Mr. Israelievich, she

also released a CD “French Violin Sonatas” (works by Pierné, Debussy, Poulenc, and

Ravel) from the Fleur de Son Classics/Naxos label.

​

As a solo pianist, Kanae has performed internationally, in the United States, Italy,

Germany, Russia, and Japan. She was a featured soloist at the World Design Expo at her

home town Nagoya, Japan (2005). In addition to the modern piano, she is also interested

in performance practice of historical instruments and recorded works by the classical

and romantic composers including Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, and

Chopin on their period instruments in collaboration with Robert Portillo, instrument

restoration specialist in Los Angeles.

​

Kanae is also passionate about collaborating with living composers. She has worked

with many composers such as John Williams, Paul Chihara, Lori Laitman, Ben Moore,

and Ricky Ian Gordon.Kanae completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in Nagoya, Japan. To continue her

studies, she moved to Los Angeles and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from

the University of California Los Angeles. After graduation, she was invited to join the

faculty of the University and taught there for 7 years. In 2013 she relocated herself to

NYC and enrolled in Professional Studies Diploma at Manhattan School of Music to study vocal accompanying in particular. 

​

Kanae now resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband John Matsumoto

Giampietro, stage director and acting instructor, Dramatic Advisor and Resident

Director of the Curtis Institute of Music. They enjoy their professional and personal

journeys together. Their passion is making pasta from scratch.

​

Kanae is ever grateful to all of her teachers who have given her Life filled with music,

most importantly Soichiro Matsumoto, Vitaly Margulis, and Marlena Malas.

​

Updated in December 2025