A charismatic and versatile clarinetist, Katsuya Yuasa has been lauded by critics as a “born performer with rare ability to express the beauty and soulfulness of the composer’s music” and toured extensively as a concert soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral player across the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia.

Born in Kobe, Japan, Yuasa is currently the instructor of clarinet at the University of Idaho Lionel Hampton School of Music and a concert artist with the Piatigorsky Foundation. Previously, he has served as the adjunct professor of clarinet at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Berry College, Florida A&M University, Secretary and Scholarships and Grants Coordinator of the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation (MPE), Principal Clarinet of Chattanooga Symphony Wind & Opera Wind Quintet and Second Clarinet of Panama City Symphony Orchestra.

An inventive artist, Yuasa explores a wide repertoire of classical, jazz, ethnic, pop, rock, and new music. He is a founding member of Duo Esplanade (flute, clarinet) and Cosmos New Music (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano), and has commissioned and premiered works by Kenji Bunch, Roee Ben Sira, David Lipton, Valerie Coleman, Gregory Wanamaker, among many. From performances to workshops, they have been featured at numerous institutions including the University of Florida, University of Missouri-Kansas City, New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, and University of Akron. Highlights from previous seasons include appearances in Carnegie Hall, ClarinetFest, National Flute Assocation Convention, Boston New Music Gathering, WTXL television, WQXR, WGBH, WFSQ and WUTC radio stations. He has collaborated with notable composers including Gunther Schuller, Louis Andriessen, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Claire Chase, Libby Larsen, and Deon Nielsen Price.

Recipient of over twenty awards and distinctions including Yamaha Young Performing Artist (2013), Yuasa was the first clarinetist to win the MPE International Concert Artist Competition (2017), which led to a three-year contract offering concerto performances, recitals, and educational masterclasses for K-12 and beyond.

As a soloist, he has been featured with numerous ensembles, including Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie with the Rio Hondo Symphony Orchestra, premiere of Frank Proto’s Paganini in Metropolis with the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with the Boston Conservatory Sinfonietta, the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Big Bend Community Orchestra, Artie Shaw Concerto with the Parma Symphony Orchestra, Midwest premiere of Daniel Freiberg’s Latin American Chronicles with the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, and Finzi Clarinet Concerto with the Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra.

An active educator, he has given masterclasses at various collegiate institutions in the US and abroad, including Ithaca College, California State University at Northridge, Eastern Michigan University, Radford University, and Mimar Sinan Guzel Sanatlar Universitesi Devlet Konservatuyari in Istanbul. Outside of his studio, Dr. Yuasa has taught at pianoSonoma, Summer in the City Music Camp, Marching 100 Summer Band Camp, and New York Summer Music Festival. Past students have been accepted to University of Texas at Austin, US Army Band, Eastern Music Festival, and more.

Yuasa completed his Doctor of Music degree at the Florida State University, where he served as a graduate teaching assistant for the clarinet studio. He also earned a Master of Music and Artist Diploma at the Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee, and a Bachelor of Music from the San Jose State University. His primary teachers are Deborah Bish, Jonathan Holden, Michael Norsworthy, and Janet Averett.