Background
DMA Juilliard School
Pianist Yasuko Oura has been praised for her sensibility and passion for collaborating with others. She has maintained a busy schedule of performing concerts and working for various opera companies while keeping an active teaching schedule. She is currently a lecturer of collaborative piano at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music where she enjoys working with talented pianists as well as coaching chamber music. Also in demand as a vocal coach, she has been on the music staff for Des Moines Metro Opera for over eight seasons. She also regularly works for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Opera Theater. She has played under many prominent conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Stephen Lord, and Jane Glover. Additionally, she was the principal production pianist and coach for Florentine Opera for seven years. Her other past affiliations include companies such as Fort Worth Opera, Kentucky Opera, Madison Opera, Toledo Opera, and AIMS in Graz, Austria.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Oura has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall. She is also the co-artistic director of Chamber Music at Bethany concert series where members of Chicago Symphony Orchestra and other prominent musicians come together to perform chamber music. She has performed recitals with some of the world’s most exciting musicians including singers such as Susanne Mentzer, Susanna Phillips, and Kyle Ketelsen. She has also served as the official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District and the McCammon Vocal Competition in Fort Worth, TX. She has been seen in performances for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, the Bel Canto Foundation, WFMT, and WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. She resides in Chicago, where she works with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra Chorus, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Opera Theater, Light Opera Works, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow.