Japan's Mao Fujita ties for second in Tchaikovsky piano competition
Mao Fujita, 20, tied for second place in the piano category of the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition on Thursday, together with Russia's Dmitriy Shishkin, while top honors went to Alexandre Kantorow of France. Fujita, a Tokyo native who has performed at home and abroad, was ...
'The Forest of Wool and Steel': Music and nature intertwine to paint a portrait of growth — review
Natsu Miyashita's "The Forest of Wool and Steel" is a mesmerizing reading experience, a slow journey in how one young person renders an occupation into a vocation.
Yayoi Kusama polka-dot piano ready for public use at Tokyo government building, with view to die for
Tokyoites looking for a great place to play their favorite Mozart piece take note: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has set up a grand piano for visitors to the 45th floor of its No. 1 building in Shinjuku Ward, giving people of all skill levels ...
Etsko Tazaki creates her own legacy at the piano keys
If you were a musician and your death was imminent, what piece of music would you like to cover before you die? Maybe you'd want to play a Sex Pistols track on the guitar, or perhaps try mastering a trumpet solo by Dizzy Gillespie? Pianist ...
Piano trio first from Japan to win ARD classical music competition in Germany
A Japanese piano trio won first prize in the prestigious ARD International Music Competition on Saturday, the organizer said. The Aoi Trio, formed by graduates of Tokyo University of the Arts, is the first from Japan to win any prize in the category at ARD ...
Japanese prodigy, 18, wins prestigious Clara Haskil piano prize in Geneva
A young Japanese pianist has been awarded the prestigious Clara Haskil Prize, organizers said Sunday. Mao Fujita, 18, will receive 25,000 Swiss francs ($26,000) after beating Hong Kong-born Aristo Sham and Italian Alberto Ferro to win the coveted award. "With him, one forgets the competition and ...
Piano repaired with funds from Cyndi Lauper destined for 3/11-hit hospital
A grand piano damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and repaired by the owner of a local musical instrument store will soon be donated to a hospital that is being rebuilt in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, after it was destroyed in the disasters. The ...
Chopin competition winner focuses on art
These days the road to fame often starts with a viral video on YouTube, but Korean pianist Seong-jin Cho took the classic route — he won a music competition. The 21-year-old winner of the international Frederic Chopin piano competition, told the press at the Polish ...
Pianist Etsko Tazaki seeks out the legacies of Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert
Whether their lives were long or short, the classic composers tended to cement their legacies in their final days, perhaps the point in their lives when they were at their most philosophical. Pianist Etsko Tazaki is fascinated by the legacies these artists leave, and is ...
Pianist Adachi delves further into the world of Croatian classical music
During his six-year stay in Croatia, pianist Tomohiro Adachi was introduced to a remarkable woman named Dora Pejacevic. Pejacevic was born into a Croatian noble family in 1885 and went on to become Croatia's first female composer. She died in 1923, but Adachi hopes that ...
Rare piano to return to Yokohama's Chinatown
A rare piano produced in Yokohama's Chinatown about 100 years ago is about to return home as a donation to Yokohama Yamate Chinese School. The piano, donated by a 65-year-old woman in Aichi Prefecture, was made by Zhou Xiaosheng, who came to Japan in 1905 ...
Pianist Yazawa looks to the past to find security in the future
Pianist Tomoko Yazawa always thinks about her music with the future in mind. However, for her latest album, "Playing in the Dark," she made a rare diversion into the past — specifically, France at the end of the 19th century. Although Yazawa was classically trained ...
