和歌山県出身。 国立音楽大学在学中、第4回の日本管打楽器コンクール・サクソフォン部門で第1位を獲得し、鮮やかにデビュー。
その音楽性は「内的な詩を持つ大器」と絶賛され、サクソフォンの父ともいえる名演奏家マルセル・ミュールをも唸らせた。
国立音楽大学を矢田部賞を受賞して卒業後は、高度なテクニックと個性的かつヒューマンな音楽性をソリストとして遺憾なく発揮。数々のリサイタルを聴衆の圧倒的な支持を得て成功させ、1991年には「管打楽器ソロ名曲集・サクソフォーン」でCDデビュー。
1995年「ラプソディー」、1997年「サクソフォビア」をEMIミュージック・ジャパンより、03年「ガーシュインカクテル」を佼成出版社よりリリース。同年、和歌山県より「きのくに芸術新人賞」を受賞。
一方、室内楽のジャンルではサクソフォン四重奏団[トルヴェール・クヮルテット]で活躍。92年の東京国際音楽コンクールで第2位を獲得した同団体は、サントリー大ホールで のリサイタルを成功させ、また、2001年には文化庁芸術祭レコード部門大賞受賞。クラシックの狭い思考にとらわれないCDを制作するなど、幅広い活動で大きな注目を集めている。サクソフォンを大室勇一氏に師事。
現在、愛知県立芸術大学講師、昭和音楽大学および同短期大学講師として後進の指導にもあたっている。東京佼成ウインドオーケストラ　コンサートマスター。

※下記、英文は上記と同じ内容です。

Mr. Yasuto Tanaka was born in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. During his enrolment at the Kunitachi College of Music, Mr. Tanaka won the first prize for saxophone in the 4th Japan Wind and Percussion Competition and made a sensational debut. His musicianship was lauded as “a great talent with inner poetry,” impressing even Marcel Mule, the great classical saxophonist acclaimed as the ‘Le patron’ of the saxophone. After graduating Kunitachi College of Music with the Yatabe Award, Mr. Tanaka showcased his sophisticated techniques and unique, humane music as a soloist, enjoying numerous successful recitals with rave reviews and the sweeping acclaim of the audiences. In 1991 his first CD “Wind and Percussion Solo Masterpieces: Saxophone” was released.
 
His released titles include the 1995 album “Rhapsody”, which was followed by “Saxophobia” in 1997 (both from EMI Music Japan) and “A Gershwin Cocktail” in 2003 (from Kosei Publishing Company). Also in 2003, he was awarded the Kinokuni Arts Emerging Talent Award from Wakayama Prefecture.
 
Additionally, in the realm of chamber music, Mr. Tanaka has been an active member of the Trouvère Quartet, a renowned saxophone quartet in Japan. The quartet won second prize in the 1992 Tokyo International Music Competition. After their triumphant recital at the Suntory Hall (Main Hall), they won the National Arts Festival Grand Prize for Best Record awarded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2001. The Trouvère Quartet continues to attract attention by their eclectic array of activities, which includes the releasing of cross-genre music CDs. Mr. Tanaka studied the saxophone under the late Yuichi Omuro.
 
Currently, Mr. Tanaka is also engaged in the instruction of young talent at the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music and the Showa Academia Musicae (University and College) in Japan. He is the concert master of Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.