Masaru Sakuma is a Bolivian pianist. As a member of BOMUSA, Bolivian Musicians in the U.S.A., he has been dedicated to promoting Bolivian classical music by organizing and performing concerts as well as beginning to build an online database of Bolivian classical composers. In the past year, he has joined soprano Allison Stanford in an exploration of Bolivian art song, with performances that were streamed on the online series Open Classical. His doctoral research has focused on Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava (1925-2005) and Bolivian musical nationalism. Masaru is currently embarked upon the recording and publication of piano and vocal works by Jaime Mendoza-Nava, to be released by M2 Film Music LLC. Prior to moving to the U.S., together with the “Ensemble of Bolivian Music from the XIX and XX Centuries,” he participated in conferences and concerts in La Paz, Bolivia, and Arequipa, Peru that promoted piano and vocal works by Peruvian composer Pedro Ximénez Abril Tirado. Masaru also serves on the board of founder members of the Centro de Estudios Musicales Bolivia.

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Masaru has performed in music festivals in Bolivia, Peru, and the U.S. and has also been invited as a guest artist to the Saarburg International Music Festival in Germany, and the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) in Vienna, Austria. Committed to community outreach, he has organized concerts that seek to bring closer together classical music and audiences from all backgrounds. His most recent programs include the recitals “Dances from Around the World” and “Goodbye to 2020” presented at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix, Arizona.

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Masaru is top winner of several piano competitions in Bolivia and has also won the First Honorable Mention in the Claudio Arrau Piano Competition in 2003 in Chile and the First Prize in the University of Central Arkansas Piano Competition in 2010.

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Masaru obtained his diploma in piano from the Bolivian National Conservatory in La Paz, where he studied under Russian pianist Irina Efanova. Upon graduating from the conservatory in La Paz, he received a scholarship to the University of Central Arkansas, completing his masters degree and graduate certificate in Piano Performance as a student of Dr. Neil Rutman. He then pursued his doctoral degree in Collaborative Piano at Arizona State University, studying under Professor Russell Ryan.