Classical pianist Futaba Niekawa seeks true expression in music through her artistry as a versatile pianist, chamber musician, and mentor. Her performance has taken her throughout the United States, Canada, England, Spain, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. To date, she has released five recordings encompassing solo, four-hands, duo, and chamber music from classical to newly composed works.

 

Praised as “a beautifully balanced duo” by Gramophone Magazine, duo526 is a shared passion for Niekawa and violinist Kerry DuWors, since 2011. The duo reaches further than performing onstage, extending to their Sonata Seminar where they mentor and nurture the love of collaboration in the next generation, as well as their scholarly research and innovative projects on esoteric duo works.

 

Her love of collaboration led her to performances with Atar Arad, James Campbell, Charles Castleman, Mark Kaplan, and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others, and at international venues such as at the Regina Chamber Music Festival, the Festival of the Sound, and the Busan Maru International Music Festival.  She has served on faculty as a collaborative pianist at the Banff Centre, New England Conservatory, Boston Ballet School, Meadowmount School of Music, Indiana University’s Summer String Academy, and the Perlman Music Program.  An advocate of sharing live classical music beyond concert halls, Niekawa has performed many series of house concerts in various areas across North America. She was a founding member of Chamberfest Brown County in Nashville, Indiana, a community music outreach initiative for the local area.

 

A native of Japan, Niekawa studied with Sumiko Mikimoto, Keiko Takeuchi, and Takako Tsumura while she studied at Toho Gakuen School of Music. Niekawa holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (B.M. and D.M.A) and New England Conservatory (M.M), where she studied with Natalya Antonova, Jean Barr, William Porter, Thomas Schumacher, and Patricia Zander.

 

Her passion for pedagogy and mentoring is shown through her appearances as a guest teacher and performer at universities across North America. From 2015-2025, she taught and served as a Lecturer in Chamber and Collaborative Music at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Her students have pursued further studies at the Julliard School, New England Conservatory, the University of South California, the University of Colorado-Boulder and more. Since fall 2025, she has been appointed as an Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at the University of Maryland in College Park.

​

​

​

​