The elder Sano described his experiences as a member of the Japanese Army and Russian prisoner of war in his book One Thousand Days in Siberia.
in Piano Performance and Theory from the studio of Aiko Onishi[5] and worked as executive director of the Peninsula Symphony[6] before attending Stanford where he earned his M.A.
The Stanford Chamber Chorale is the university's select group of 24 undergraduate and graduate student singers which, under Sano's direction, records, tours annually, has collaborated with artists such as England's Tallis Scholars; the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge; the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge; Gondwana Chorale, part of Australia's Gondwana Choirs; Chatham Baroque; Paco Peña; and the Kronos Quartet, recorded a collection of works by Kirke Mechem,[7] at the composer's request, and premiered works by Melissa Hui, Takeo Kudo, Jonathan Berger, Giancarlo Aquilanti, Christopher Tin, and Howard Helvey.
[10][11] Sano is a student of kī hō'alu, or Hawaiian slack-key guitar, and has recorded two solo albums on the Daniel Ho Creations label[12][13] and two collections of duets with his teacher and mentor, Ozzie Kotani.
[17][18] In 2013 Sano embarked on a project to combine his love of stringed instruments with the construction of the Bing Concert Hall, a key performance venue for the music ensembles he conducts and advises.