Profile

Japan-born Junko Ueno Garrett has captivated audiences around the world with her colorful tone, poetry, expressiveness, dynamic technique, and wide range of repertoire. She began playing piano at the age of three, trained at the prestigious Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, and received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Rice University in the United States. Junko received “The Japanese Consul General’s Award” for her contributions to international relations and understanding between countries. She was chosen to tour to celebrate the 150 years of the US-Japan relationship and the 125 years of the Brazil-Japan relationship.

She is a versatile musician, active as an internationally acclaimed performer, an avid chamber musician, a concert producer, a music educator and mentor, and a competition adjudicator. In Los Angeles, she coordinates “Third@First concert series” (www.thirdatfirst.org) where she produces concerts monthly and performs frequently, and appears as a guest artist at LA Phil’s chamber music concerts, Music at Noon series, and KOT concert series. After the pandemic, she started to perform internationally again – “Fêtes Corréziennes En Musique” in France in August of 2021, Germany in July of 2022, and “Kawai Pause” in Tokyo in November of 2022. 

Junko launched a weekly piano lesson video in Japanese on Youtube in July of 2020, and has been receiving much acclaim and gaining many viewers. Her lessons and performances are on YouTube@junkouenogarrett3509. She is launching a Piano Camp “Piano Adore” in Japan in July of 2023. She enjoys sharing blogs and photos at her webpage (www.junkopiano.com) and Facebook. 

She is a president of Pasadena Chapter of Music Teachers National Association (www.capmtpasadena.org), and a frequent adjudicator for MTNA, CAPMT, MTAC, Southern California Junior Bach Festival, and SouthWestern Youth Music Festival. Junko holds a faculty position at Occidental College, and is a coach for Junior Chamber Music. She is a Kawai Artist and lives in Los Angeles. Junko is a passionate Sumo advocate and a founder of the Los Angeles Sumo Fan Club.

Under the culture exchange program of the Japan Foundation, Japanese Embassies and Consul Generals of Japan, she has toured South and Central America in 2018, 2015, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2002, and 1999, including Brazil (Mozart Concerto No. 23 with Orquestra de EMBAP), Venezuela (Saint-Saens Concerto No. 2 with Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela under Alfredo Rugeles), Ecuador (Chopin Concerto No. 2 with Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Ecuador under Medardo Caisabanda), Colombia’s Teatro Colón and Boyacá International Cultural Festival, Rio de Janeiro’s Museu da Musica at Mosteiro de Sao Bento, Brazil-Curitiba’s Capela Santa Maria, Argentina’s Teatro Gran Rex, Brasilia’s Teatro da Caixa, Peru’s Sociedad Filarmonica, Uruguay’s Auditorio Carlos Vaz Ferreira and Teatro Miguel Young, Costa Rica’s Teatro Eugene O’Neill, El Salvador’s Teatros Nacionals des San Salvador and Santa Ana, Cuba’s Basilica Menor del Convento, Chile’s Centro Cultural Las Condes, and Mexico City. In 2018 and 2016 she toured the East Coast and Midwest of the U. S. under the Japan Foundation’s culture program.

Her other engagements include performances at Radio France; Fêtes Corréziennes en Musique, Musique de Chambre; Le Chateau de Sedieres; Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center; New York’s UN, Charles Wang Center and Flushing Town Hall; Boston’s Berklee College; San Francisco’s Japan Center; Kansas City’s Carlsen Center; Denver’s King Academic Performing Arts Center; Salt Lake City’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall; Tampa’s Carrollwood Cultural Center; Georgia’s Falany Performing Arts Center; Houston’s Texas Music Festival; Tucson; Indiana; Fairbanks; Philadelphia; Atlanta; Idaho Falls; Shreveport…. In the summers of 2009 and 2007, at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, Junko toured in Japan as part of the Belrose Duo, performing and lecturing on American music. Other activities include concert tours to India introducing Western Music to Indian audiences. She often gives masterclasses where she performs, and gives recitals at universities.