Ráyo Furuta
Flute
Ráyo Furuta, hailed as “The Rockstar of the Flute” (Informador de Guadalajara) and “The Prodigy of the Great Flutist, Carol Wincenc [professor of flute at the Juilliard School]” (San Jose Mercury News), is a Mexican Japanese American flutist known for his electrifying stage presence and genre-defying artistry. With command of classical, contemporary, global, jazz, and pop styles, Furuta has captivated audiences worldwide.
At the age of 25, Furuta was officiated as a Cultural Ambassador to the United States. Since then, he has appeared across Mexico, Japan, Korea, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Poland, the Middle East, and North America, with performances alongside Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble, for the United Nations, and at major festivals including Yellowbarn, Mainly Mozart, Okayama, Interharmony, Saarburg, Banff, Sarasota, and Opera en la Calle. He tours regularly as a concerto soloist, specializing in contemporary works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Yuko Uebayashi, Jake Heggie, and Paul Schoenfield, and as a recitalist with his longtime duo partner, Grammy-winning pianist Michelle Cann. His acclaimed Linda Ronstadt Tribute Experience celebrates Ronstadt’s legacy and his own bicultural heritage through a fusion of rock, Latin jazz, mariachi, and folk traditions.
As a chamber musician, Furuta has collaborated with Peter Frankl, Jon Nakamatsu, and members of the Kronos, Brooklyn Rider, Mendelssohn, and Emerson String Quartets. His passion for global music has led to performances with celebrated artists such as Sandeep Das (tabla), Vijay Gopal (bansuri), Ghassan Sahhab (qanun), Van Anh Vo (dan tranh), Merima Kljuco (accordion), and Christina Pato (Galician bagpipe). He is also a member of the Mexico City-based contemporary jazz band Toktli and a leading artist with the Common Sounds Ensemble.
Furuta currently serves as Professor of Flute and Chamber Music at San José State University. He has given masterclasses at institutions including The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, University of Guadalajara (Mexico), Jeju National University (Korea), and University of Toronto (Canada) among many others. He has also served as a Visiting Professor of Flute at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He previously spent a decade on the faculty of Santa Clara University as the Lecturer of Performance Practice and Community Engagement, where he was appointed at the age of 25 and, in his final year, was honored with the Francisco Jiménez Distinguished Faculty Award for his commitment to social justice and marginalized communities. He remains at Santa Clara University as an instructor of flute. A celebrated curator, he is the Artistic Director of Chamber Music Silicon Valley, where he has earned national recognition for innovative programming and community-centered work.
Dedicated to civic engagement, Furuta founded Mas Amor Arts, through which he has led initiatives with juvenile detention centers, unhoused women, and California’s farmworker communities. Each year, he organizes a large-scale music education project in Tijuana, Mexico, offering youth alternatives to street violence, and he has also brought performances to Syrian refugees in the Middle East.
Furuta is a recipient of the Music Teachers National Association’s 2024 Power of Innovation Award, the 2018 X-Factor Arts Prize, and the 2019 On the Stage Artist Laureate of SVCreates. He is also a two-time grantee of the illustrious Knight Foundation. He recently signed with Azica Records, where upcoming recording projects will spotlight his solo artistry, cross-genre collaborations, and his ongoing commitment to expanding the flute repertoire.
Furuta earned his Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Stony Brook University, where he was a Staller Scholar and named a Distinguished “40 Under 40” Alumnus at the age of 25. At Stony Brook, he studied with legendary flutist Carol Wincenc and the Emerson String Quartet, serving as their hand-selected teaching assistant, the only wind player ever to hold that title. His other important mentors also include Isabelle Chapuis, Jill Felber, Elena Yarritu, harpsichordist Arthur Haas, and violinist Philip Setzer.
Ráyo Furuta is a Burkart Artist and performs exclusively on a handmade 9k gold Lilian Burkart flute.