Sana Nagano was born in Tokyo, where she began playing violin as a child and moved to the US as an exchange student. She earned performance and composition degrees from the Berklee College of Music and the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens College. Since 2010 she has lived in New York City where she's been active as both a collaborator and bandleader. She has played in Karl Berger's Improvisers Orchestra and Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra; she has also worked with William Parker, Daniel Carter, Harvey Valdes, and others.