Name: Mao Fujita

Nationality: Japanese
Occupation: Pianist
Current Release: Mao Fujita's Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas is out via Sony Classical.
Recommendations: My favorite painter is Giuseppe Arcimboldo. When I first saw his work, I was instantly attracted to it. His works are portraits of people drawn by combining flowers, vegetables, and animals. Once you see Arcimboldo's work, you can't forget it. It has the power to lure the viewer into a labyrinth.
In music, I admire the pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev. When I first heard his performance, I was surprised to hear the particuarly quality of his sound on the piano.

If you enjoyed this interview with Mao Fujita and would like to know more about his work, visit his official website. He is also on Facebook.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started rhythmic and absolute pitch training at the age of one, and began playing the piano at the age of three.

When I was still very young, I remember watching for the first time the 1986 film "Horowitz in Moscow”, which included footage of Vladimir Horowitz performing Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10 in recital at The Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory the same year.

I was enthralled by his performance; I was amazed at how the piano could express itself in so many different ways, but I was particularly captivated by the magic touch of his fingers and his tone.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

For Mozart, who was himself a pianist, the score must have been the foundation on which he could build a performance into a work of greater variety, nuance, and depth.

I hugely value the improvisational nature to performing Mozart works, which involves having a complete grasp and understanding of all the notes Mozart left in the score as a pre-requisite.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Now that I am based in Europe, I have had the opportunity to experience new things, both musically as well as more generally, than I had before. I am impressed by the fact that great composers have created so many masterpieces here.

I believe that I can further develop myself musically by discovering historic buildings and paintings and by following in the footsteps of great musicians.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

If I, as a listener, want to hear something played in a particular way, I will pursue getting to that sound as a performer until I have found it.

There is no difference between me as an artist and a listener, because the sounds we want are the same.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Music is the beauty of sound. Art, in oil painting, is the depth of color built up in layers. This depth of color can also be expressed in music. That is why I love going to museums and galleries.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I believe the most important thing for music to be is natural. I think tradition is very important, but it is not something that can be passed down forcibly; rather, it is a state of being that is passed down organically.

At a time when Russia was still known as the Soviet Union, my piano professor in Tokyo, Minoru Nojima, went to the Soviet Union to study with the great pianist Lev Oborin. Later, Minoru won second prize at the Van Cliburn Competition and lived in New York, but returned to Japan a short time later. He worked as a pianist and also taught younger students at the Tokyo College of Music. I was taught by Minoru for six years before he sadly passed away earlier this year.

He never talked about a specific school of playing in his teachings, yet it must have come naturally to me to play with a certain technique with each of Minoru's lessons, even though I was not aware of it. It was only later, when I took part in the International Tchaikovsky Competition and a jury member told me, “your technique is Russian”, that I realised it.

I believe that the technique Minoru taught me, combined with my own individuality, has made me the pianist I am today. It all happened naturally.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

I have practiced on a Steinway grand piano since I was eight years old. Steinway pianos are used frequently in competitions and concerts, so I was familiar with this make from a young age and found it very easy to handle.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I wake up in the morning, check the world news, check my e-mails, and then go to the piano.

From 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. I am not allowed to make loud noises in my apartment, so during that time I make and eat lunch, read a book, or take a walk.

In the evenings and at night, I practice the piano again.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

This year's Lucerne Music Festival is particuarly memorable.

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which I performed with this Summer, is a group of first-class musicians drawn from prestigious orchestras from around the world, so I was really happy to hear the very best of music up close. Their conductor, Riccardo Chailly, is a very charming person. He gave me a warm welcome to the orchestra, as if I were part of the family.

It was a wonderful experience to perform Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with such wonderful people.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I am inspired by both private and collaborative influences when I play music or in the process of playing music.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

When concerts were put on hold due to the pandemic, I was saddened to see that music was deemed as irrelevant in a climate of crisis.

However, I believe that music is important for a healthy mind and body, in activating the brain and controlling emotions. Amongst the stresses of today’s world, music can support us through so many difficulties.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

I have given several concerts in hospitals. Those people who were too sick to go to concert halls were very happy to hear a live performance while lying in bed or with an IV.

It made me think that although music may not be able to cure illness, it can do much to satisfy the soul.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

There has been a lot of research and many books published on music and science as a specialized field. However, I do not think about it very consciously in my performances.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Making a great cup of coffee is only possible through research, trial and error, and a person's originality. When I think about it, performing music is similar to making a great cup of coffee, because I also take my time and practice carefully in order to produce a beautiful sound.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I would be really pleased for listeners to feel my performances as deep messages.

I try to be faithful to what is written in the score, and if I am talking only about Mozart, I imagine that Mozart, who was a pianist, would have added phrases and notes not written in the score and improvised on the spot to make the performance a deeper work with more variety and nuance, thus making it special.

I imagine that Mozart would have made it a special piece of music when performing, and I try to play it in the same way.