'...delicate piano writing, brilliantly executed by the pianist Kenji Fujimura...' (Gramophone)
Dr Kenji Fujimura is one of Australia’s most acclaimed musicians. As performer and composer he is the recipient of numerous major prizes and awards, including the Australian National Piano Award and the William Lincer Foundation International Composition Award (New York). Concert, masterclass, and adjudication engagements have taken Kenji throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia and he is regularly broadcast on networks such as BBC Radio 3, ABC-FM and TV, the MBS-FM network, and Bravo! Canada both as soloist and chamber musician. Concerto engagements have seen Kenji work with Boreyko, Braithwaite, Hopkins, Janssens, Simon, Southgate and others. Kenji has been described as ‘a grand artist with a magical sound, an accomplished technique and a superb understanding of all musical styles. He adds to this a vision of deep profundity’.
An avid supporter of both contemporary and lesser-known music, Kenji has given many premiere performances. As a founding member of Trio Anima Mundi, Kenji's double-CD set of piano trios by William Hurlstone, Max d’Ollone, Dag Wiren and Miriam Hyde on the Divine Art (UK) label, has been reviewed as follows: ‘[a]s to chamber music this has to be the CD of the year and, perhaps, many years to come.’ It was also selected amongst the 2013 Musicweb International Recordings of the Year. Kenji's premiere recording of the Violin Sonata of George Benjamin (with violinist Elizabeth Sellars) as well as works by Messiaen, Kurtag and Dukas for Move Records (Australia) was released in January 2014. Other forthcoming releases include the first recording of the solo piano works of William Hurlstone for Toccata Classics (UK). His own compositions have been performed in Australasia and North America.
A native of Japan but now resident in Australia, Kenji's formative music studies were undertaken in both countries. Kenji completed the four-year Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree in only two years at The University of Melbourne, where he also received a Master of Music degree as a full scholarship holder. His principal teacher was Ronald Farren-Price. His performance recitals at the university achieved the highest marks ever awarded in the history of the institution. During his Masters candidature, he was also a student at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he received numerous awards and prizes and was active as a pianist, fortepianist and chamber musician. His music studies culminated with a full-scholarship PhD from Monash University which investigated the piano music of William Hurlstone.
In addition to his performance activities, Kenji is a highly respected pedagogue; his teaching career at the tertiary level began while he himself was an undergraduate. He is currently Deputy Head of School, Coordinator of Classical Performance and Chamber Music, and Senior Lecturer in Piano/Keyboard at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Monash University. Kenji is also an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board and is frequently invited as an adjudicator for competitions throughout Australia and abroad.
