Violinist Kei Sugiyama received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School as an Irene Diamond Scholar. His teachers include Masao Kawasaki, Paul Kantor, and James Stern. Upon graduation, he began his orchestral and chamber music career in Washington D.C. as a substitute with the Washington National Opera Orchestra, as well as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Kei has performed in local chamber music series curated by The National Gallery of Art and The Phillips Collection. He is grateful for the chamber music mentorship he has received in the past from members of the Juilliard String Quartet and Ida Kavafian. He has performed at such music festivals as the Aspen Music Festival and School, Pacific Music Festival, and Verbier Music Festival. As a dedicated educator, Kei was a Morse Teaching Artist Fellow during his time at Juilliard, designing and leading educational music programs in collaboration with New York City public schools. He additionally holds the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts awarded by the University of Maryland.