We’re delighted to announce that our resident mentor for The Talent Season 1 2020 is pianist Dr Kenji Fujimura.

Kenji is an internationally-acclaimed pianist and chamber musician. His CDs include William Hurlstone Complete Piano Music (Toccata Classics), Romantic Piano Trios (Divine Art) and English Piano Trios (Divine Art) with Trio Anima Mundi, as well as The Messiaen Nexus (Move), and the Complete Violin Sonatas of George Frederick Pinto (Toccata Classics) with violinist Elizabeth Sellars. Awards for his recordings include the Musicweb International Recording of the Year, Fanfare USA Colin Clarke’s 2015 ‘Top 5 Want List’, Limelight Chamber Music Recording of the Year amongst others. He pursues an active schedule as a pianist, and continues his research into and advocacy of ‘forgotten’ music.

Kenji’s 2020 performance season includes appearances at the MSO Chamber Music Series, Geelong Chamber Music Society, Melbourne International Piano and Strings Festival, regional and overseas touring, and the commencement of The Reissiger Project with Trio Anima Mundi. Upcoming recordings include solo piano music by Theodore Dubois, Ernest Guiraud, Leo Livens and others, as well as chamber music of Arthur Benjamin and the piano trios of Carl Gottlieb Reissiger.

Kenji is also a multi-award-winning composer.  Self-taught, his compositions were first performed publicly whilst a school student. Since then his works have been performed throughout Australasia, USA, Romania, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. Awards for his compositions include the Singapore Asian Composers Festival Award, William Lincer Foundation Award (New York), and the VirtualArtists International Composition Award (USA). In 2019 he was a finalist in the 2^ndCum Laude International Composition Competition (Spain).

A highly respected pedagogue, Kenji’s tertiary-teaching career began while he was still an undergraduate. Kenji is currently Deputy and Artistic Director at the International Academy of Musical Arts (www.iamusica.org), and teaches piano and chamber music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He is also anexaminer for the Australian Music Examinations Board, and co-founder of chamber ensemble Trio Anima Mundi. Kenji also maintains a very exclusive private piano studio.

A passionate advocate for music education, Kenji is regularly invited to give masterclasses and adjudicate competitions throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. He is Patron of the Association of Eisteddfod Societies of Australia (www.eisteddfod.org.au).

Kenji completed his four-year Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree in just two years at The University of Melbourne, and subsequently completed postgraduate studies as a scholarship student in Melbourne and London, winning prizes and accolades as pianist, fortepianist, and chamber musician.

In 2015, Kenji was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, for his ‘significant contribution to the music profession’.

Find out more: www.kenjimusic.com

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Photo credit: Cameron Jamieson