Although Dai Fujikura was born in Osaka, Japan, 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 this country, Internationaler Wiener Composition Prize, the Paul Hindemith Prize in Austria and Germany respectively, and both the OTAKA and Akutagawa awards in 2009. Dai's music is inspired by the 'beauty, form and movement of swarms of fish and birds', and by the vivid colours and textures of sounds. This is explored in Secret Forest and Okeanos which which combines oboe, viola and clarinet with Japanese instruments. Dai's works are frequently performed to an international audience and he has recently collaborated on a new album with experimental musician and ex-Japan singer, David Sylvian.
December 2012
“All the performances do Fujikura proud in their unbridled commitment and attentiveness to the smallest nuance. David Toop provides an illuminating overview of his often unlikely evolution...Natalie Braune's cover artwork, too, feels entirely appropriate as an adjunct to the music of one of the most distinctive and thought-provoking younger composers.”
24th June 2012
“The sensuous, watery influences of Takemitsu, writ large, are certainly audible. He considers himself British and says writing slow, meditative gong music is against his nature. This lively east-west tension is evident in the five works here.”
