Manami Sarah Hasegawa

Sarah is passionate about helping people become the best musician they can be. Her lessons include musicianship, theory, history and practical piano instructions which help her students become not just proficient but highly knowledgeable, musical and commanding in their piano playing. Learn more. 

Described by pianist Paul Stewart as “a musician who possesses excellent tone and incisive and exciting technique”, Sarah is the 2nd place winner of the International Bösendorfer Klavierkurs Piano Competition in Lilienfeld, Austria, and a finalist in the Clara Lichtenstein Piano Competition in Montréal, Canada. 

As both a solo and collaborative artist, Sarah has been invited to perform in Canada, the United States, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Japan, giving concerts in venues such as La Maison Symphonique, Haydn Hall, The Glenn Gould Studio, Carnegie Hall, and Madison Square Garden. 

As an ARCT graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada with First Class Honors, Sarah went on to study with Marina Mdivani for her Bachelor of Music at McGill University (High Distinction), Gregory Chaverdian for her Artist Diploma at Concordia University, and John Byrne for her Master of Music at the Royal College of Music. 

Having had every one of her piano teachers come from the Russian school of piano pedagogy, Sarah has been taught from an early age about the importance of producing the singing quality in piano playing. Unfortunately for her, she only really started to understand this in her adult years and is currently trying to make up for lost time.

Despite her much later understanding of the “singing line”, Sarah fell in love with collaborative works and, in particular, vocal repertoire during her undergraduate years and made it her goal to learn as much chamber and vocal repertoire as she can - still very much a work in progress but she keeps trying. 

Along this journey, Sarah has been incredibly privileged to have met and worked with phenomenal artists such as Michael McMahon, Colin Ainsworth, Andrea Bocelli, Evgeny Mogilevsky, Vladimir Krainev, Grigory Sokolov, and Mischa Maisky from whom she learned and gained more than she can possibly say. 

Sarah is currently taking lessons from the renowned piano pedagogue, Margrit Zimmerman, whom she feels is her greatest musical gift thus far. Another musician who is deeply tied to the Russian school as a former student of Dmitri Bashkirov, Margrit tirelessly tries to help Sarah continue her attempt at producing the singing, legato sound on the piano.

Teaching remains very close to Sarah’s heart. She believes that teaching is synonymous with learning and understands that a teacher can gain as much knowledge from their students as they give to them. She is proud of and inspired by every one of her students and greatly enjoys the time she shares with them.

When not holed up in her practice room, rehearsing or teaching, you can find Sarah hiking with her chocolate lab, cooking and eating with her family, or singing to J-Pop in the karaoke room.