Ayako Fujiki – Pianist & Composer
Born in Tokyo, Ayako Fujiki started playing the piano as a young child and performed her first concert at age seven, playing Beethoven and Chopin. She has been performing in various international music festivals and important halls in Japan, Spain, UK, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Colombia, Bulgaria and Serbia, and she played as a soloist with various orchestras.
Ayako has developed her skill with one of the greatest pianists of 20th century, Alicia de Larrocha (1st Spanish artist to win the UNESCO prize) and widow of Igor Marchevich, Carlota Garriga at the Granados-Marshall Academy, Barcelona, specialising in Spanish music. Also with Carmen Mompou, specialising also in the music of Frederic Mompou, with Jan Wijn at the Amsterdam Conservatory, Holland, with Chung Lee at Graz University, Austria, with Narcis Bonet at the L’Ecole Normale du Paris, France, with Irina Ossipova, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, with Christopher Elton, Royal Academy of Music, London, and many other major Japanese pianists.
According to Carlota Garriga “she proves to have high sensitivity and excellent piano playing skills” and from Carmen Mompou “she certainly has a promising career ahead”.
In 2005, she was honoured with the diploma “Specialisation in Spanish music”. In 2007, she was awarded title of “Mas- ter of Spanish Music”. She was Finalist in the International Piano Competition, Vienna. She has played as a soloist, Chopin Piano Concerto with the orchestra formed by The Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu members. In 2016, she was invited by the music festival “41st Winter Music Evenings” in Bulgaria to perform Schumann Concert in A minor and had the privilege of working with such a distinguished director Sir Palikarov and with the Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra in Bulgaria. This concert was broadcasted on the National Radio of Sofia. In same 2016, She played Schumann concert with Sant Cugat Symphony Orchestra in Sant Cugat concert hall and in La Massa Theatre (designed by Guastavino, an Valencia’s architect who designed New York Central Station) to celebrate 25th anniversary of the orchestra. In 2019 she performed to close the ceremony of 45th NIMUS international music festival in Serbia which is the oldest music festival in Serbia under Maestro Piero Romano with Nis Symphony Orchestra. Also she has played Manuel de Falla’s Cembalo Concert using the very Cembalo which Manuel de Falla used when composing, as well as Padre Soler manuscript Quintets with Classic Barcelona.
She has released various albums like “Franz Schubert” and “España”. In 2010, released the solo piano Suite “GOYESCAS – los majos enamorados -” composed by Spanish Composer Enrique Granados which is famous as one of the most difficult piano suites, she has recorded it as a posthumous memorial of her professor Alicia de Larrocha. In 2019 She has released the classical piano album “FANTASIA” (nominated ‘Enderrock’ magazine 2019) which is a collection of Fantasia’s piano pieces such as Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Joaquín Turina, Manuel de Falla and Franz Liszt. From 2021 regularly releasing music related to “Seasons” to offer musical world trip. Italy “Le Stagioni” Calstelnuovo-Tedesco (nominated Enderrock magazine 2021), Spain “Les Saisons” Isaac Albéniz, Ukraine “Seasons from Cinderella” Prokofiev,“ U.S. The Seasons” John Cage, Japan “Four Seasons of Japan for four hands” Yoshinao Nakada which she played both herself partially using the new Steinway technology, Spirio. Some of her recordings were selected for documentary broadcasted by both Spanish National TV, TVE and TV3.
As a composer, her composition premiered in Palau de la Música Catalana. Ayako has composed pieces with piano and a variety of other instruments for films, advertising and documentaries, incorporating classical and electronic musical techniques. She released her first original album “brightwater” in 2015 which she played by herself. The pieces comprise of solo piano, two piano and a trio of piano, violin and cello, has recorded it entirely in Barcelona, with the invaluable participation of two great musicians: the violinist “Cristian Chivu,” the concertmaster of Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in Denmark, and the cellist “Cristoforo Pestalozzi”, the lead cellist in the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
