The Japanese harpsichordist Nao Nagayama was born in Ibaraki Prefecture.

She started playing the piano at the age of three. Due to the small span of her hands, she initially gave up the piano – despite winning several competitions during her elementary school days. At the age of 16, encouraged by a teacher, she rediscovered her love for classical music and from then on concentrated on the baroque and classical keyboard repertoire.

She studied music education studies at Saitama University, where she found the opportunity to play the harpsichord and took lessons from the harpsichordist Hisako Shintani. In 2015, after attending a master class with Prof. Florian Birsak-Hayer in Innsbruck, Nao Nagayama decided to study with him again at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and was admitted to his concert class. She also studied figured bass with Andreas Gilger and Prof. Michael Eberth and also organ as minor subject with Prof. Heribert Metzger. Since 2021, Nao Nagayama studies historical performance practice with Prof. Christine Schornsheim at the Hochschule Musik und Theater in Munich .

She worked as music teacher in elementary school and later also in the private sector in Japan and gives currently several concerts in Japan, Germany and Austria both as a soloist and figured bass player. In January 2022 she was invited to the resonant music festival in the Wiener Konzerthaus with great success and since 2022 is member of the Salzburg Philharmonic.