A Japanese soloist making his Abu Dhabi debut with a Chopin-themed piano recital.

Description

Blind since birth, Nobuyuki Tsujii was joint-winner of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2009.

Since winning the competition he has appeared at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, the Aspen Music Festival, given recitals in Forth Worth and Houston, and embarked on a major recital tour of Japan. Writing in the Dallas Morning News, Scott Cantrell said of Tsujii:

"It's almost beyond imagining that he has learned scores as formidable as Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto and Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata by ear. (There are Braille editions of some music, but that's a cumbersome and very slow way to learn.) Through all three rounds, he played with unfailing assurance, and his unforced, utterly natural Chopin E-minor Piano Concerto was an oasis of loveliness…”

At the age of 12, Tsujii made his debuts at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Now 21, Tsujii has appeared as soloist with many of the major Japanese orchestras including Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Symphony and Japan Philharmonic.

Future plans include concerto appearances with the NHK Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Slovak Philharmonic and the Ensemble Kanagawa under Vladimir Ashkenazy; recitals in Washington, Indianapolis and at the Ravinia Festival; and a recital at the Abu Dhabi Festival in March 2010.

Nobuyuki Tsujii has made a number of CD and DVD recordings for Avex Classics including Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 recorded with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Yutaka Sado, and a solo recital at Suntory Hall.

Nobuyuki Tsujii has been the subject of several documentary films in his native Japan including, most recently, by the Japanese national broadcaster, NHK. He currently participates in the performer's programme at the Ueno Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo.