OUR PROFESSORS

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.

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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 concerti by Gabriela Lena Frank, Yuko Uebayashi, Jake Heggie, and Alexis Aranda, 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. 

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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, 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.

 

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.

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Furuta earned his Bachelors, Masters, 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. He is also an alumnus of the Multicultural Artist Leadership Institute (MALI)

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Ráyo Furuta is a Burkart Artist and performs exclusively on a handmade 9k gold Lilian Burkart flute, as well as Lilian Burkart’s personal solid 14k gold elite flute on loan from Lilian herself.

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Yingying Wang is Professor of Flute at Santa Clara University and newly appointed Assistant Instructor of Flute at San José State University, where she also serves as Co Director of the annual Summer Flute Institute. She is Principal Flute of the Mission College Symphony Orchestra and Co Director of Orchid Music Ensemble (幽兰乐坊), and is an active member of the National Flute Association. With more than 20 years of experience in music education, Wang has guided students to top awards in major competitions and to principal positions in leading youth orchestras. Her former students have gone on to study at distinguished institutions including the Columbia Juilliard Exchange, Manhattan School of Music, MIT, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Berkeley. She studied flute primarily with Dr. Ray Furuta and has also studied privately with Carol Wincenc. She has also participated in masterclasses with Robert Langevin, Rosa Jang, Isabelle Chapuis, September Payne, and Mira Magrill.

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Mexican American flutist Estevan Romero is a first year Master of Music student at San José State University, where he serves as Graduate Flute Teaching Assistant and studies with Dr. Ray Furuta. A rising artist and educator, Romero has quickly distinguished himself at SJSU, and will be featured as soloist with the SJSU Symphony Orchestra in Christopher Rouse’s Flute Concerto. He previously earned bachelor’s degrees in Music Performance and in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Davis. Romero is currently principal flute of the SJSU Symphony and previously held the same position with the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra for three years. Beyond the stage, Romero is also building a strong foundation as a teacher and mentor. This summer, he will serve as Faculty Assistant at Northern California Flute Camp, where he was previously a counselor for four years. Other very important teachers are Stacey Pelinka (U.C. Davis) and Maquette Kuper. He has played in Masterclasses with Carol Wincenc, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Kelley Zimba.