Luna Music Studio

Caitlin Lea Sugishita

Caitlin Sugishita grew up in Eugene Oregon, studying piano, violin and flute.  Her past music teachers include Betsy Parker-Steinhardt, Philip Bayles, Charles Madsen, Linda Wickes and Leslie Sawyer.  She attended South Eugene High School where she accompanied the Concert Choir and many private vocal and instrumental students.  She was awarded the Frederic Chopin Award in Piano Excellence for three years in a row.

Caitlin was accepted at the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed her B.M. and M.M. in Piano Performance, where she studied with Doris Pridonoff Lehnert and Alvin Chow.  During her time there she won numerous regional competitions including MTNA and the Nancy Clark Piano Competition.  In 2000, she was a featured performer at the International Piano Festival in Houston, TX.  The following year she was accepted as a student at the Ecole de Musique in Paris and also had an opportunity to study and perform at the International Piano Sessions in Prague.

Caitlin has an extensive background as an accompanist and has performed with many musical groups in Colorado including the Colorado Opera, Boulder Chorale, Boulder Women's Chorale, Resonance Women's Chorus, Boulder Messiah Chorale and Jefferson Unitarian Church.  She was also the Assistant Music Director as well as the Accompanist for the Arvada Center Chorale.  She has performed with vocalists and instrumentalists of all levels and has repeatedly received acclaim from area music critics.  Caitlin has performed both solo and collaborative recitals throughout the United States and Europe and most recently gave a series of recitals in Japan with her husband, violinist Takanori Sugishita.

Caitlin has eleven years of private teaching experience and has maintained a full studio for eight years in Boulder, Colorado.  Her students have gone on to study piano in college, participated in MTNA events and performed with area symphony orchestras.

Takanori Sugishita

Takanori Sugishita, born in Matsumoto, Japan, began studying violin at the age of three with Yuko Mori and later took lessons with the late Shinichi Suzuki.  By age ten he was making solo appearances with Suzuki Children Tours in Beijing, Shanghai and Calgary.  In high school Takanori studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy where he graduated with distinction.  He continued his violin studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto with Victor Danchenko, then went on to receive his M.M. from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Charles Castleman, Oleh Krysa and Zvi Zeitlin.  His other teachers include David Cerone, David Updegraff, Camilla Wicks and George Taylor.

As a chamber musician he received coachings from the Cavani, Cleveland, Manhattan, Mendelssohn, Takacs, Vermeer and Ying String Quartets.  With the Aerith Quartet, which he co-founded, Takanori performed throughout the United States and Asia.  In Colorado he has held titled positions in Boulder Philharmonic, Greeley Philharmonic, Longmont Symphony and Central City Opera Orchestras, and regularly performed with Colorado Symphony, Colorado Ballet and Opera Colorado Orchestras.  He has recently joined the Eugene Symphony Orchestra as the assistant principal 2nd violin.

Takanori has been teaching privately for over 15 years and has taught at schools such as Boulder Arts Academy, Shedd Institute in Eugene and the Flatirons Strings Academy.