John Ruben Piirainen is a Milwaukee-based pianist and musical director. He is a native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and a fourth generation Finnish-American.

He began piano lessons at age five and had five private piano teachers by the time he graduated from high school, including one who rapped his knuckles with a ruler while agonizing through Czerny studies; however, that didn't deter him from attending the Interlochen Arts Camp and earning the High School Diploma through the American College of Musicians / National Guild of Piano Teachers.

He holds the Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, where he was a student of Robert Below (piano) and George Edward Damp (harpsichord). His pursuits at Lawrence included chamber music, 20th century piano music, vocal coach training, orchestration, conducting, and intensive language studies of German and Greek. He was awarded the school's two prestigious piano performance awards, The Margaret Gary Daniels Award and The Marjory Irvin Prize.

He also holds the Master of Music degree in piano performance from Bowling Green State University, where he was a student of Virginia Marks (piano) and Vincent Corrigan (harpsichord). He continued his studies of vocal coaching while engaged in an opera graduate assistantship and further honed his skill in chamber music, focusing on music of living composers. Under the tutelage of mentor-composer Marilyn Shrude he wrote his master's thesis on the piano music of Olivier Messiaen.

He was an adjunct professor at Bowling Green State University, where he taught Music Appreciation and Ear Training/Sight Singing, and at Bluffton College, where he taught Music Theory and Piano.

He has recorded extensively for the Hal Leonard Corporation, has contributed to recordings on the CRI and Neuma labels, and is featured on an independently-produced CD of what may be the only full-length CD of songs by French composer Georges Auric.

He has appeared in over 100 recitals across the country and made his international debut at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival. Recent performances include Festival City Symphony (Milwaukee) and Kenosha Symphony Orchestra.

He also has an active career as director of musical theatre, having directed 19 shows in the past 5 years, including the infamous production of "Naked Boys Singing" at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, which made international headlines after being unlawfully closed on opening night by the Milwaukee Police Department Vice Squad.

He is currently the Education Music Director at the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee and Director of Music at Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, Wisconsin, where he directs the choirs and musical ensembles. He is an active member of the national professional group Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network and he is one of the first seven musicians nationwide to be conferred as a Credentialed Music Leader by the Unitarian Universalist Association.