Concert Pianist Shigeru Kawai Artist

Junko Ueno Garrett is an exceptional Japanese pianist loved by audiences globally.

Junko Ueno Garrett started early, playing piano at three and training at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo with Professor Hiroshi Miura. Formal studies quickly followed, including a Doctorate Degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, under the tutelage of Professor John Perry.

Garrett has toured globally throughout her professional career. Many of these performances have come under the cultural exchange program of the Japan Foundation, Japanese Embassies, and Consulate Generals of Japan, which has seen her tour the Americas multiple times. She has also performed at multiple French festivals, Radio France, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Berklee College in Boston, and many more concert halls and music venues across the U.S. Junko has also toured Japan at the invitation of the U.S. State Department as part of the Belrose Duo.

As part of her work toward international relations between the U.S. and Japan, Junko was awarded the Japanese Consul General’s Award and was subsequently chosen to tour in celebration of 150 years US-Japanese relations and 125 years Brazil-Japanese relations.

Despite lockdown restrictions, Garret performed multiple live-stream concerts. She also launched a series of weekly piano lesson videos in Japanese in 2020 — something she continues to this day. Garrett is delighted to perform in person again, however. In August 2021, for instance, she performed a solo concert in France in front of a full live audience. She currently performs for Music at Noon and will perform in Tokyo in 2022.

Junko Ueno Garrett is also an artistic director, coordinating and performing concerts for the 3rd@1st concert series in LA, where it’s her goal to bring young musicians and communities together.

Teaching is just as important to Junko as performing and directing She is a president of the Pasadena Chapter of Music Teachers National Association and regularly adjudicates the MTNA, MTAC, CAPMT, and Southern California Junior Bach Festival. She holds a position at Occidental College and is a chamber music coach, as well as a Kawai artist.