Koji Yuan is a Guitarist, Artist, Musician, and Entrepreneur who has won many awards and competitions. He started playing the classical guitar as a teenager. He studied at the Ruth Asawa SF SOTA with Scott Cmiel and Mattew Linder along with the SFCM with David Tanenbaum and Larry Ferrara. The awards he has earned include the National Royal Conservatory of Music Level 5 Guitar Gold Medal, the Level 6 Guitar Certificate for First Class Honors with Distinction, First Class Honors with Distinction for the Basic and Intermediate Rudiments Tests, the Ruth Asawa SF SOTA (2015-2016) concerto competition, and the SFCM 2016 Vincent Constantino Scholarship.
“The professors who most influenced me include David Tanenbaum, Nikolaus Hohmann, and Larry Ferrara. They all helped me develop a higher purpose with music and the arts to discover myself and help the rest of the world. I remember learning about the connection of human history to music and what it reflects about human life. I believe they have shown me that art as a whole reflects the deeper meaning behind the human condition.
My philosophy of teaching is to help meet students where they are at and take it from there. I believe structured, focused and systematic instruction can help students in the long term for the path of becoming a musician and artist. I believe teaching students how to practice slowly, with awareness and finding a balanced approach between working on improving the various skills of technique, music theory, musicianship, guitar theory, sight reading and individual music pieces.
The most important achievements in my career so far as an emerging Artist include winning a Royal Conservatory of Music Level 5 National Gold Medal, getting first class honors with distinction awards in the Royal Conservatory of Music Tests and getting in the SFCM Guitar Department as a Bachelor of Music in Guitar.
My favourite performers are the guitarists David Russell, John Williams, Julian Bream, The Romeros Guitar Quartet, and Scott Tennant.
The music project I would choose to sustain is the Music for Peace International Charitable Project. This is because it is a project with the intention to create a more peaceful world with music as a whole. This project aligns with my long term goals as a musician and artist to create and perform music to give back to the world in the form of charity, benefit concerts and help reduce poverty.
The 3 CDs I would bring to a desert island are The Beatles Red Album, The Beatles White Album and The Beatles Abbey Road.