Praised for her “exquisite sensitivity” and a “style filled with class and elegance” by La Voz de Asturias (Asturias, Spain) and recognized as a “talented player who doesn’t fit the cookie-cutter mold” by Lucid Culture (New York City), American pianist Amy E. Gustafson has performed across the United States and in both Western and Eastern Europe. Her debut album, Reverie, consists of music by Claude Debussy and was released in June 2017. Her second album From Darkness to Light will be released in the spring of 2026.
Notable performances include replacing the late legendary pianist Abbey Simon in Los Angeles at LACMA’s series, Sundays Live, an appearance with the Sofia Sinfionetta in Sofia, Bulgaria, a performance with Ensemble Tayada in Candas, Spain. Other engagements have taken her to Spain, China, and Canada, and she has also performed New York City venues, such as Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Trinity Church Wall Street, Tenri Cultural Institute, CAMI Hall and the Kosciuszko Foundation.
Born into a musical family, her talent was evident at an early age, and she received much of her beginning piano instruction from her grandmother. By the age of 15, she had won several competitions, including MTNA’s Baldwin Competition, and her success led her to move to New York City to continue her studies. Since then, Gustafson has won numerous awards, including the second prize in the International Young Artists Piano Competition, second prize in the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation Competition, and the Special Presentation Award and the Alumni Award from Artists International Presentations, Inc.
Gustafson completed her studies at the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Her major teachers have included Julian Martin, Andre-Michel Schub, Anton Nel, Constance Keene, and Miyoko Lotto, and she has benefited from the advice of many renowned pedagogues, including Solomon Mikowsky, Arie Vardi, Veda Kaplinsky, Robert McDonald, Paul Badura-Skoda, Marc Durand, Martin Canin, Leslie Howard, and Luiz de Moura Castro.
In addition to her performing career, Gustafson has served on the faculty of the Millersville University and Elizabethtown College and the Cynthia Sternberg Schein Chamber Music Institute in State College. She is Executive Director and Faculty of the Gijón International Piano Festival in Gijón, Spain, as well as the Director of the Palmetto International Piano Festival in South Carolina. Previously, Dr. Gustafson directed the Boal Mansion Museum Concert Series in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania and The Stony Brook International Piano Festival in Stony Brook, New York.
Amy E. Gustafson is a Yamaha Artist.
