She first studied piano with Aiko Iguchi at the
Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo. She continued her studies in Germany with
Hans-Erich Riebensahm in Berlin and
Aloys Kontarsky in Cologne. Sugawara has been awarded the
Kranichstein Prize. Sugawara is married to German composer
Helmut Lachenmann. As a
soloist, she has played with
Pierre Boulez,
Péter Eötvös,
Michael Gielen,
Hans Zender,
Sylvain Cambreling and
Lothar Zagrosek. Many composers have written works for her. Sugawara is a
chamber musician who has played with the
Ensemble Recherche as well as in duet with violinist Asako Urushihara. She has also played with
Christian Dierstein and
Marcus Weiss. Sugawara plays in many European festivals of
contemporary music, such as the
Donaueschingen Festival, the
Holland Festival, the
Berlin Festival, the
Berlin Biennale, the , the
Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Festival Archipel de Genève, the
Huddersfield Music Festival and the
Ars Musica Festival in Brussels. She also plays in the rest of the world, notably in Chicago, New York, Tokyo, Kyoto and also in the
Akiyoshidai Quasi-National Park. == Ensembles ==