Ray Ushikubo, violin and piano

Ray Ushikubo, from Riverside, Calif., entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2018 and studies piano with Robert McDonald and violin with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Pamela Frank. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Mr. Ushikubo is the William A. Loeb Fellow.

Mr. Ushikubo made his solo orchestral debut at age ten with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra in Los Angeles’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. He has since appeared as a soloist with the Charlotte, Fort Collins, Hilton Head, Modesto, Pasadena, and San Diego symphony orchestras; the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and the Buffalo, Los Angeles, and Reno philharmonics. A recipient of the 2014 Davidson Fellow Laureate Award, Mr. Ushikubo also won the 2017 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the 2016 Piano Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he soloed with the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra.

Mr. Ushikubo enjoys performing in a variety of settings. He performed as piano soloist at the Los Angeles Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) for a peace ceremony honoring victims of the bombing of Hiroshima. He has also appeared as a guest artist on Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes It Great?” series at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts; on San Diego’s Mainly Mozart series, Mozart and the Mind; and at the Griffith Observatory as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Immortal Beloved celebration. He has been featured as a Young Artist in Residence on American Public Radio’s Performance Today, and he has been featured several times on National Public Radio’s From the Top. He has also been a featured speaker on TEDx Redmond.

Mr. Ushikubo began studying the piano at age five and the violin at age six. His past teachers have included Robert Lipsett, Ory Shihor, and Aaron Rosand. His other interests include golfing, watching movies, and listening to heavy metal music.