SOLA 宇宙

Trombone and piano duo

Unconventional concerts for trombone and piano.

We are Hanae Yoshida and Linda Ruan. We build concerts around a theme, new music and surprising collaborations, with Japan as our home stage.

Linda Ruan and Hanae Yoshida jumping toward the camera, hair flying, in front of the Tianjin Juilliard School entrance

About

Brought together by a shared curiosity and a love of unusual performance settings, SOLA 宇宙 enjoys reshaping misconceptions about the often misunderstood world of classical brass and piano music. We promote trombone-piano music through creative concert design and varied programming, and through community engagement that helps make this instrumentation feel natural inside and outside classical music.

Our first projects in 2022 took shape under strict pandemic restrictions in China, and our debut performance in Tianjin was live-streamed to a small audience.

Hanae Yoshida

Trombone

Japanese-American trombonist Hanae Yoshida is an S.E. Shires Rising Artist. She grew up in Irvine, California, where she started her musical studies on the piano and the violin before picking up the trombone at the age of 10.

In the early stages of her musical career, she was selected as the Pacific Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition winner ('16) and as a finalist for the YoungArts Foundation ('17). Hanae won the 2022 American Trombone Workshop Division II Tenor Trombone Competition, and was a finalist in the 2022 International Trombone Association Alto Trombone Competition in Arkansas, USA.

Throughout her career on the trombone, she has met and performed with artists from around the world. Hanae has appeared with orchestras such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony, Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and more. During her first year at The Tianjin Juilliard School, she was appointed principal trombone of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and the Chengdu Symphony Orchestra in China.

She also appears in recording studios, where she took part in recording the soundtracks for The One Piece (Remake) and Godzilla -0.0. She also recorded commercial music for Tokyo DisneySea's Fantasy Springs.

She is a graduate and student of Joseph Alessi at The Juilliard School (BM '21) and studied with Lee Allen as a fellowship student at The Tianjin Juilliard School for one year.

Hanae is currently freelancing and is based in Japan.

Linda Ruan

Piano

Named one of the CBC's Hot 30 under 30 Canadian Classical Musicians, Chinese-Canadian pianist Linda Ruan has won prizes at the Lancaster International Piano Competition, PianoArts North American Competition, Seattle International and Eckhardt-Grammátté. With piano duo La Fiammata, she earned second prize at the 70th ARD International Music Competition. She has performed at Carnegie's Weill Hall and Lincoln Center's Rose Studio, completed two cross-Canada tours, and appeared as soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, among others.

Growing up across Tokyo, Shanghai and Vancouver, Linda's multicultural upbringing has cultivated a passion for diverse programming, contemporary music, community engagement and making classical music accessible to all.

Linda received her Bachelor of Music with Honours from The Glenn Gould School under James Anagnoson and Li Wang, and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School in the studio of Hung-Kuan Chen. She completed a second Master of Music at the Tianjin Juilliard School with Dr. Xiaohan Wang and Natalia Katyukova, and a Performance Diploma at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Corey Hamm. She is now pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at Cornell University with Xak Bjerken. Her earlier private studies were with Xiao Li, and she has also studied fortepiano with Audrey Axinn and Yi-heng Yang and conducting with Jeffery Milarsky and Ivars Taurins.

Keep scrolling to see more of our recent projects!

Past projects

COLOURS

5 June 2024 · Yumeria Hall, Tokyo

A recital built around the idea of colour. It opened with Scriabin, who had synesthesia and heard music in colours, and included a world premiere by Ehren Valme written for the duo, alongside a visual art collaboration with Chea Kang. We spoke to the audience in both Japanese and English.

The first three photos are from our stage rehearsal the day before the concert. The others are from the day itself: our bows beside Chea Kang's painting, and the sign at the door.

Highlights: Deux mouvements pacifiques, live at Yumeria Hall, 5 June 2024
Chea Kang painting the artwork for Deux mouvements pacifiques (timelapse) · Watch on YouTube

Trio Concert

9 June 2026 · Okurayama Memorial Hall, Yokohama

SOLA welcomed trumpeter Stamp Netthai for an evening of trumpet, trombone and piano, with a space theme. Linda and Stamp traveled to Japan from Canada and the United States to join Hanae for trio pieces and solos.

The program included Blacker's Divertimento for trumpet, trombone and piano, Pryor's Fantastic Polka, and two movements of Catherine McMichael's Totem Voices, with Stamp on flugelhorn.

Highlights: Trio Concert, Okurayama Memorial Hall, 9 June 2026

Igusa Church recital and community outreach

2 June 2024 · Igusa Church, Tokyo

A 50-minute program with spoken introductions to the trombone and the piano, including Bach and Gounod's Ave Maria, Puccini's O mio babbino caro, Casterède's Sonatine, Pryor's Fantastic Polka and a medley of Joe Hisaishi's Ghibli music.

Listen

Leopold Mozart: Concerto for Alto Trombone and Piano, III. Allegro e Cadenza · Watch on YouTube
Jacques Castérède: Sonatine for Trombone, III · Watch on YouTube
Misty · Watch on YouTube

Contact

For concerts, collaborations and commissions, please get in touch.

soladuo0605@gmail.com

Instagram @sola.duo