Kana Sugimura was born in New York to Japanese parents. She studied the violin in Tokyo with Prof. Takashi Shimizu, in London with Prof. Yfrah Neaman and in Hanover with Prof. Krzysztof Wegrzyn, among others.

She has won numerous awards at international competitions, including the International Violin Competition in Qingdao, China; the International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade; the Premio Trio di Trieste Chamber Music Competition; and the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover.

In 2007, she performed the world premiere of Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto arranged for chamber ensemble by Andreas Tarkmann with the Linos Ensemble.

As a guest concertmaster, she has performed with the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim, the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Radio Philharmonic, to name a few.

Since 2012, she has been a violinist and co-founder of the Flex Ensemble piano quartet, focusing on chamber music. Many of their concerts have been broadcast live by SWR, NDR Kultur and Radio 4. In 2014, the piano quartet released its debut CD, The Arrival of Night, on GENUIN Classics. This was followed in 2019 by the recording Au Suivant, featuring French repertoire, and in 2020 by the third CD, Inside Eroica, both released on the Avi label in cooperation with Deutschlandfunk Kultur.