The Sixth Station Trio is making its own track in classical music. 

With Katelyn Tan on piano, Anju Goto on violin, and Federico Strand Ramirez on cello, Sixth Station Trio has boasted a string of sold-out performances and a giant social media footprint —but it’s a group that almost never was. 

“We never intended to form a professional trio,” Frederico Strand Ramirez joked, adding they “now perform regularly every month.” 

The Sixth Station Trio.

The three originally met as high school students at the San Francisco Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. “We were randomly assigned to play with each other through the chamber music department,” Strand Ramirez said. “This was unknowingly the very early inception of our piano trio!”
The three stayed friends and eventually all made their way to SFCM, with Tan studying with Timothy Bach, Goto with Cordula Merks, and Strand Ramirez with Jean-Michel Fonteneau and Bonnie Hampton. They continued to play together at SFCM, but not in an official capacity— though that all would change post graduation. Tan and Goto graduated in 2020, with Strand Ramirez following with his graduate degree in 2022. 

The three musicians were looking for another chance to play together, and in 2023 it came in the form of another passion of theirs. In addition to classical music, all three were longtime fans of Japan's Studio Ghibli films and soundtracks (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo) so when Katelyn Tan had the idea of performing a Studio Ghibli concert, they were more than animated to get started. “It was an obvious decision for us,” Strand Ramirez said.

The trio performs live on a regular basis.

They set out to perform a small-scale concert, but fate had other plans when they reached out to their dream venue, Grace Cathedral (the largest of its kind in San Francisco), and not only did they book the venue, but in May 2023 they sold it out with over 1,000 attendees. “We were shocked,” Strad Ramirez added. 

“Since we debuted with Studio Ghibli,” Goto said, “It felt like a natural step for us to continue making covers of other franchises that we grew up with and continue to love.” It also led them to their name, an homage to their favorite piece by composer Joe Hisaishi in Spirited Away.

Since then the group has been performing regularly at venues, events, and festivals such as Old First Concerts, the Asian Art Museum's Samsung Hall, Game Developers Conference, FanimeCon, Super MagFest Convention, and SF Japantown's annual NorCal Cherry Blossom Festival. 

The Sixth Station Trio.

They also started to build an online presence, expanding their repertoire to include classical covers of video game music, film music, pop, j-pop, and anime music. “We believe that video game music is one of the forms of classical music most present in popular culture,” Goto continued. “Many of our audiences have expressed to us how this is their first time attending a classical concert, inspiring them to check out other similar concerts and music as well!”

With these classical covers, their online presence exploded, with thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok. “A part of why these covers are so successful online is the nostalgia factor of the music,” Tan said. “Being passionate about the content we create and the nostalgia factor—combined with live performance—are the reasons why our covers have reached such a broad and diverse audience,” she added.

One of the challenges has been arranging the music from its original form, a sometimes arduous practice handled by Goto and Tan. “As classical musicians, we often take for granted music that is already written and arranged for our specific instruments,” Tan continued. “Through arranging for our trio, we’ve definitely come to appreciate and enjoy the process more.”

This year the trio has tracked multiple performances both in San Francisco and across the country, and are excited to see what’s next. They credit much of their success back to their time at the Conservatory: “The immersive learning environment of SFCM cultivates well-rounded artists,’ Tan said. 

“We were exposed to many types of music, which helped inspire us to diversify our repertoire,” Goto added. 

They encourage current and future students to keep an open mind when thinking about what's in store for their musical journey. For them, it was the culmination of two of their passions: different on the surface, but both deeply rooted in music. 

“Knowing different genres can help broaden your perspective as a musician. We have carried this mindset beyond SFCM as a professional trio to inform our playing in everything we do,” Tan continued. “Because of these core values developed during our time at SFCM, our trio is able to perform music we’re passionate about, while still preserving classical music and introducing it to new audiences.”

Learn more about studying at SFCM.