Chopin: Piano Works Mao Fujita

• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849): Impromptu:
• 1 Impromptu No. 1 in A-Flat Major, Op. 29 04:12
• 2 Impromptu No. 2 in F-Sharp Major, Op. 36 06:01
• 3 Impromptu No. 3 in G-Flat Major, Op. 51 05:15
• Fantaisie-impromptu:
• 4 Fantaisie-impromptu in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 66 05:05
• Allegro de concert:
• 5 Allegro de concert, Op. 46 12:35
• Scherzo:
• 6 Scherzo No. 1 in B Minor, Op. 20 10:26
• 7 Scherzo No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 31 10:31
• 8 Scherzo No. 3 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 39 07:35
• 9 Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, Op. 54 11:14
• Total Runtime 01:12:54

Info for Chopin: Piano Works

Invariably met with ovations at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, the pianist has enchanted audiences not just with his filigree technique and impeccable precision of performance; the main and defining characteristic of the playing of Mao Fujita, who won the hearts of audiences on his first tour, is the sharply individual sound of the instrument. “Heavenly”, “sun-like” and “crystalline” – these are just some such of the epithets that critics have awarded the pianist.

As a result of the competition, the twenty-year-old Japanese musician was presented with the prestigious 2nd prize and the Silver Medal of the competition, along with awards at such competitions as the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition (2016, 3rd prize) and the Clara Haskil Piano Competition (2017, 1stprize).

At the International Piano Festival the young pianist will present a solo programme of works by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. In addition to the two sonatas – the pianist’s competition “warhorse” – there will be a performance of Mozart’s Tenth Sonata and Beethoven’s Seventeenth Sonata, Fujita also performing all of Chopin’s scherzos. A disc of the Polish composer’s music, the pianist’s fifth solo recording, was recorded by Mao in October this year on the Naxos label.

“His performance in the first round caused a flurry of enthusiasm and an ovation of the hall, and after the second round they confidently spoke about him as an unconditional favorite of the public …” (RGRU, Russia)

“This is an absolute meta-hero for the Tchaikovsky Competition, such a performer is a bright, necessarily foreign, to whom the public somehow so favors. His name was Van Cliburn there, then his name was Frederick Kempf, in 2015 his name was Debarg, now his name is Mao Fujita” (Boris Lifanovsky, Creator of the classicalmusicnews.ru, Russia)

Mao Fujita, piano

Mao Fujita
With an innate musical sensitivity and naturalness to his artistry, 24-year old pianist Mao Fujita has already impressed many leading musicians as one of those special talents which come along only rarely, equally at home in Mozart as the major romantic repertoire.

Born in Tokyo, Fujita was still studying at the Tokyo College of Music in 2017 when he took First Prize at the prestigious Concours International de Piano Clara Haskil in Switzerland, along with the Audience Award, Prix Modern Times, and the Prix Coup de Coeur, which first brought him to the attention of the international music community. He was also the Silver Medalist at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, where his special musical qualities received exceptional attention from a jury of leading musicians.

Fujita has been invited to appear in recital at major international festivals including the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Tsinandali and Riga-Jurmala festivals, among others, and he makes his highly-anticipated US recital debut at Carnegie Hall in January 2023. Recent and upcoming orchestral highlights include performances with the Gewandhausorchester, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Philharmonique de Radio France, Konzerthaus Berlin, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, RAI, Filarmonica della Scala, and Lucerne Festival orchestras, while his many conductor relationships include Vasily Petrenko, Christoph Eschenbach, Riccardo Chailly, and Andris Nelsons.

In November 2021, Fujita signed an exclusive multi-album deal with Sony Classical International. The new partnership sees him explore many facets of repertoire across several releases, starting with an eagerly-anticipated studio recording of Mozart’s complete piano sonatas, which is due for release in October 2022, following an acclaimed series of performances of the complete sonatas at the Verbier Festival in 2021. Fujita has been invited to perform the same set of works, interspersed with sets of Variations, over five concerts for his debut at London’s Wigmore Hall at the end of the 22/23 season.

Starting piano lessons at the age of three, Fujita won his first international prize in 2010 at the World Classic in Taiwan, and became a laureate of numerous national and international competitions such as the Rosario Marciano International Piano Competition in Vienna (2013), Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians (2015), and the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition (2016).

Mao Fujita is moving to Berlin for further studies with Kirill Gerstein.

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