Artist Bio

Born in Japan, educated in the United States, and currently based in France, Sato Matsui is an award-winning composer whose work reflects her diverse cultural background. A winner of the Charles Ives Award and a Fulbright Scholar, Matsui’s compositions have been performed in renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the National Concert Hall of Taiwan, and the Petit Palais in Paris. 

Matsui holds a Doctorate in Composition from The Juilliard School, where she studied under Robert Beaser, and she further honed her craft at Paris’s Schola Cantorum with Michel Merlet, a disciple of Olivier Messiaen. Her international career includes collaborations with leading artists such as violinist Jeanne-Marie Conquer of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, flutist Carol Wincenc, and pianist Anna Tsybuleva, to name a few.

Her recent projects include a commission for a flute concerto for Carol Wincenc, which premiered at the 2023 National Flute Association Gala Concert at Symphony Hall in Phoenix, Arizona. In April of2024, Matsui’s Oiseau Lunaire received its U.S. premiere at Carnegie Hall by pianist Will Healy. In 2022, her trio Hanasaka Jiisan for oboe, bassoon, and piano was commissioned by Cornelia Sommer for the International Double Reed Conference in Denver, Colorado. Her orchestral work Kinokonoko, was premiered at Lincoln Center by the New Juilliard Ensemble in 2019.

Matsui is the Founder and Artistic Director of IMAGO, a chamber music ensemble in Paris that specializes in both traditional repertoire and original creations with a strongly cross-disciplinary approach. In addition to her creative endeavors, Matsui is deeply engaged in musicological research. She is currently serving as the Chief Editor of the complete songs of Erik Satie for Universal Music Group.

Matsui has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for Arts, and the New York Choreographic Institute, and a guest artist at the Sarasota Music Festival.