Professor Masayuki Kurata finished his bachelor's and master's studies at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he studied under Konosuke Watanabe and Teiichi Nakayama. After his debut as Elvino (La Sonnambula, Bellini) and the Evangelist (St. Matthew's Passion, Bach, dramatized version), he studied in Milan as a trainee of Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs Abroad. His European appearances as a soloist from 1985 to 1990 included Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns (title role) and Martin's In terra pax.

He has been critically acclaimed for leading tenor characters in Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, Idomeneo, Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Don Chisciotte della Mancia (Paisiello), Le Comte Ory, Otello (Rossini), Un Ballo in Maschera, Otello, Stanislao Gastaldon (Verdi), Carmen (Bizet), Das Liebesverbot, Tannhäuser, Der Fliegende Holländer (Wagner), Salome (Richard Strauss), Wozzeck (Berg), La Bohème, Turandot (Puccini), A Streetcar Named Desire (Previn), Die Lustige Witwe (Lehár), Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II), and Chunhyang (Hyun Jae-myung), as well as such Japanese operas as Hikarigoke (Luminous Moss, Ikuma Dan), Kinkakuji (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Toshiro Mayuzumi), Oratorio Yamatotakeru (Shigeaki Saegusa), Hikari (Light, Toshi Ichiyanagi, première at New National Theatre, Tokyo), and Chushingura (Shigeaki Saegusa, première at New National Theatre). His Gustav von Aschenbach in Britten's Death in Venice, which was premièred in Japan in 1998, was widely acclaimed and attracted much attention.

He has been invited by leading orchestras as a concert soloist for Matthäus-Passion, Johannes-Passion (Bach), Symphony No. 9, Missa Solemnis (Beethoven), Messa da Requiem (Verdi), and Das Lied von Erde (Mahler), which were also highly acclaimed. He has also been particularly devoted to German lieder in his last 9 recitals.

He is currently a Professor at Ferris University, and a member of Nikikai Opera.