Although Dai Fujikura was born in Osaka, he has now spent more than 20 years in the UK where he studied composition with Edwin Roxburgh, Daryl Runswick and George Benjamin. During the last decade he has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Huddersfield Festival Young Composers Award and a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in UK, Internationaler Wiener Composition Prize, the Paul Hindemith Prize in Austria and Germany respectively and both the OTAKA and Akutagawa awards in 2009.

A quick glance at his list of commissions and performances reveals he is fast becoming a truly international composer. His music is not only performed in the country of his birth or his adopted home, but is now performed in venues as geographically diverse as Caracas and Oslo, Venice and Schleswig-Holstein, Tokyo and Paris.

In his native Japan he has been accorded the special honour of a portrait concert in Suntory Hall in October 2012. In London where he chooses to live with his wife and family, he has now received two BBC Proms commissions, his Double Bass Concerto was recently premiered by the London Sinfonietta and in 2013 the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave the UK premiere of Atom as part of the Total Immersion: Sounds from Japan.

The French music world too has taken him to its hearts with numerous commissions, culminating in his first opera – an artistic collaboration with Saburo Teshigawara, which will be co-produced by Theatre des Champs Elysées, Lausanne and Lille. In Germany the European premiere of Tocar y Luchar, the world premiere of which was given in Venezuela by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, was given at the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin. His next German commission is Grasping for the Munich Chamber Orchestra, which was premiered in Korea before being brought back to Munich. Switzerland has featured his music at the Lucerne Festival, Austria at the Salzburg Festival and Norway at the Punkt Festival and a commission in 2013 from the Oslo Sinfonietta.

Conductors with whom he has worked include Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Jonathan Nott, Gustavo Dudamel, the newly-appointed conductor of the Suisse Romande, Kazuki Yamada, Alexander Liebreich and Susanna Mälkki. His compositions are increasingly the product of international co-commissions. In 2012/13 the Seattle and Bamberg Symphony will each give continental premieres of Mina for wind a percussion soloists and orchestra and the Asian premiere will be given by Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011/12 the Arditti Quartet performed flare in collaborating venues in London, Edinburgh and Tokyo. His opera, which is based on Stanislaw Lem’s novel Solaris, will be co-produced in both France and Switzerland.

In 2012 NMC released secret forest, the first disc devoted exclusively to his music, and in 2013 Commmons released Mirrors, an album including four of his orchestral works. His chamber music album, Flare has been released on his own label, Minabel, and another album of his works, performed by I.C.E., is due to be released on the KAIROS label in the autumn.

He has also collaborated in the experimental pop/jazz/improvisation world. A co-composition with Ryuichi Sakamoto was premiered in Hakuju Hall in Japan, collaborative works with David Sylvian are on Sylvian's died in the wool album and also Dai's co-compositions with Jan Bang and Sidsel Endresen feature on Jan Bang's album, released from Jazzland records.

Dai Fujikura is published by G Ricordi & Co, Berlin – part of Universal Music Publishing Classical.

Please check the Ricordi Berlin website for details.

Ricordi Berlin

List of works:
Orchestra Works
Ensemble Works

ORCHESTRA WORKS

Rare Gravity • [2013]
3 (3picc).1.ob d’am. c.a. 2cl (in B-flat). bcl (in B-flat) / 4 (in F).3 (1 in C, 2 in B-flat).3.1. / timp. 3perc. / str.
World Premiere: Tokyo, 10.07.2014
Duration: 15’
Sy. 4199

Diamond Dust • [2012]
Piano Concerto No. 2
Pf.
1 (picc).1.1.1 (cbn). / 1.1.1.0. / perc. / 1.1.1.1.1.
World Premiere: Huddersfield, 23.11.2013
Duration: 20’
Sy. 4308

Bassoon Concerto • [2012]
Bn.
Picc. 1 (picc). afl. 1. ob.d‘am. c.a. 2. bcl. 2 (cbn). / 4.3.3.1. / cel. timp. 3perc. / str.
World Premiere: Tokyo, 11.10.2012
Sy. 4011

Mina • [2011/12]
for five soloists and orchestra
Perc. fl. ob. cl. bn.
2. 2. 2. 2. / 2. 2. 0. 0. / timp. / str.
World Premiere: Seattle, 18.10.2012
Duration: 14’
Sy. 4179

Grasping • [2011]
for string orchestra
6.5.4.3.1.
World Premiere: Tongyeong, 24.03.2012
Duration: 15’
Sy. 4139

Tocar y luchar • [2010/11]
for orchestra
Picc. 1 (1picc). afl. (picc). 3 (1c.a). 3 (1bcl). 3. / 4.3 (picctpt).3.1. / timp. 3perc. / str.
World Premiere: Caracas, 12.2.2011
Duration: 11’
Sy. 4097

ENSEMBLE WORKS (6 Instruments and more)

my butterflies • [2012]
for brass orchestra
2 (2picc). afl.1.2.bcl.1. / 4. 2picctpt.2.3.1.
World Premiere: Chicago, 8.2.2013
Duration: 12’
Sy. 4309

Mirrors • [2009/12]
Version for twelve violoncellos
12vc.
World Premiere: Tokyo, 11.10.2012
Duration: 12’
Sy. 4014

Mirrors • [2009]
for six violoncellos
6vc.
World Premiere: 25.1.2010, Chicago
Duration: 12’
Sy. 4001

Double Bass Concerto • [2009/10]
for double bass and chamber orchestra
Db.
1.1.1.0. / 2.2.0.0. / 2perc. pf. hrp. / 3.0.2.0.0.
World Premiere: London, 5.11.2011
Duration: 20’
Sy. 4003

Ice • [2009]
for chamber ensemble
2.1.1.1. / guit. perc. / 1.0.1.1.1.
World Premiere: New York, 27.4.2010
Duration: 16’
Sy. 4002

Phantom Splinter • [2009]
for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and live-electronic
Ob. cl. bn. live-electr.
World Premiere: Donaueschingen, 17.10.2009
Duration: 20’
Sy. 4000

CHAMBER MUSIC

Minina • [2013]
for five instruments
1.1.1.1. / dul.
World Premiere: 25.02.2014, Tokyo
Sy. 4375

Wondrous steps • [2013]
for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin and cello
Duration: 11‘

Wind skein • [2013]
for oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon
Ob. cl. bcl. asax. bn.
World Premiere: 28.11.2013, Barcelona
Duration: 8’
Sy. 4372

Being as one • [2013]
Soprano, bass clarinet and violoncello
Text: Harry Ross
Sopr. bcl. vc.
Duration: 10’
Sy. 4110

Silence seeking solace • [2012]
for soprano and string quartet
Text: Harry Ross
Sopr. 2vln. vla. vc.
World Premiere: 24.8.2013, Salzburg
Sy. 4351

My letter to the world • [2012]
Six songs for baritone and piano
Bar. pf.
Text: Emily Dickinson, William Blake
1. This is the letter...; 2. I have no name...; 3. A sepal and a thorn...; 4. I lost a world...; 5. I hide myself within my flower...; 6. Love is anterior to life...
World Premiere: Frankfurt, 8.9.2012
Duration: 14’
Sy. 4141

Three miniatures • [2012]
for two pianos
2pf.
World Premiere: 4.6.2013, Cheltenham
Duration: 9’
Sy. 4283

Dolphins • [2011]
Version for two violoncellos
2vc.
World Premiere: 20.12.2011, Tokyo
Duration: 8’
Sy. 4210

Halcyon • [2011]
for clarinet and string trio
Cl. vln. vla. vc.
World Premiere: 15.4.2011, Philadelphia
Duration: 13’
Sy. 401

Scion stems • [2011]
for string trio
Vln. vla. vc.
World Premiere: 2.9.2011, Kristiansand
Duration: 6’
Sy. 4207

Dolphins • [2010]
for two violins
2vla.
World Premiere: Mai 2011, Osaka
Duration: 8’
Sy. 4112

Fluid Calligraphy • [2010]
for violin and video ad lib.
Vln. video
Video by Tomoya Yamaguchi
3 Versions:
a) Video for DVD player (PAL)
b) Quick Time Video version (uncompressed)
c) LIVE video version (recommended)
World Premiere: 9.4.2010, Cologne
Duration: 10’
Sy. 4078

Recorder Concerto • [2010]
for flute and strings
Blfl. (tblfl. sopranino. bassett in F)
4.4.4.2.1.
World Premiere: 18.11.2010, Amsterdam
Duration: 14’
Sy. 4006

String Quartet No. 2 „flare” • [2010]
2vln. vla. vc.
World Premiere: 3.2.2011, London
Duration: 15’
Sy. 4005

Away we play • [2010]
for two sopranos and alto
Text: Harry Ross
World Premiere: 10.9.2010, Glamorgan
Duration: 4’
Sy. 4114

love excerpt • [2009]
for mezzo-soprano and piano
Text: Harry Ross
Ms. pf.
World Premiere: 25.2.2010, London
Duration: 3’
Sy. 4026

Phantom Splinter "Lite" • [2009]
for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and electronic feed
Ob. cl. bsn. live-electr.
World Premiere: 22.11.2013, Huddersfield
Duration: 20’
Sy. 4008

SOLO WORKS

Chance Monsoon • [2014]
for guitar
Duration: 7’
Sy. 4394

Sparking Orbit • [2013]
for E-Guitar and accompanying CD (or Live-electronic)
World Premiere: Nov. 2013, Karlsruhe
Duration: 18’
Sy. 4335

Following • [2013]
for bassoon
Duration: 4‘
Sy. 4379

Repetition/recollection • [2013]
for marimba
World Premiere: 1.6.2013, Copenhagen
Duration: 14’
Sy. 4169

The Spirit of Beings • [2012]
for violoncello and electronics
World Premiere: Southampton, 15.1.2013
Duration: 14’
Sy.  4313

PoyoPoyo • [2012]
for horn
World Premiere: 14.10.2012, Nagoya
Duration: 9’
Sy. 4219

Scarlet Ibis • [2012]
for double bass
db. (Wiener Stimmung)
World Premiere: 29.5.2012, Berlin
Duration: 3’
Sy. 4286

AYATORI • [2011]
1 of the “2 little piano pieces”
Duration: 3’
Sy. 4228

Calling • [2011]
for bassoon
World Premiere: 9.3.2012, New York
Sy. 4251

Samarasa • [2010]
for violin
Duration: 8‘

Glacier • [2010]
for recorder
World Premiere: New York, 17.1.2012
Duration: 6'
Sy. 4115

Seksek • [2011]
from “2 little piano pieces”
Duration:3’
Sy. 4227

ELECTRONIC WORKS

I dreamed on singing flowers • [2012]
Electronical composition
Sound carr.
World Premiere: 1.7.2012, London
Duration: 5’
Sy. 4274

For more works by Dai Fujikura, please go to Ricordi London.