Updated10Sep'20
"...(Megumi
Fujita) was marvellous
mature and confident
...faultless technique and tone...
Tour de force in all respects."
Musical Opinion, Wigmore Hall 1999
Leading pianist of her generation, Megumi Fujita has forged a varied and solid career spanning four decades.
She has toured internationally and recorded extensively both as a soloist and a chamber musician being a member of the critically acclaimed Fujita Piano Trio.
Having studied for nearly 18 years with Irina Zaritskaya, and utilizing her unique vantage point as a chamber musician, Megumi has re-examined the core of the Chopin Etudes which culminated in a CD released in 2017.
"Fujita has totally different attitude to this...wonderful touch and remarkably controlled dynamics, and perfect mix of the classical and romanticism born out of Chopin's heath"
Chopin CD review by PG Bergfors
"I can go on about how exceptional this CD is, but it is self-evident once one listens to the recording."
Chopin CD review by Tadao Aosawa.
"this was among the best recitals I've heard this year to mark the 150th Anniversary of Schumann's death."
Musical Opinion, Wigmore Hall.
Short Vimeo link
of Megumi:
https://vimeo.com/343032845/66e64852b9
Prizewinner at prestigious international competitions, Megumi Fujita has performed worldwide, and has recorded numerous CDs including the critically acclaimed Takemitsu and Rachmaninov 24 Preludes and Chopin 24 Etudes.
Megumi was born in New Zealand as a daughter of a Japanese Diplomat. She started to study piano at the age of five in Japan.
From 1975, she studied with John Chagy in Atlanta, USA where she performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and was featured in the Newsweek Magazine.
In 1977 the family moved to Baghdad, Iraq where she continued her studies with the Russian pianist Agnes Basheer. In 1979 she joined the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrrey to study with Simon Nicholls and Louis Kentner.
At 19, she was selected as a post-graduate student at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel-Aviv University and studied with Irina Zaritskaya winning First Prize in the Piano Competition at the Academy the same year. She continued her post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music with Irina Zaritskaya, winning the Hopkinson Gold Medal in 1986.
Megumi has since won numerous prizes including 3rd Prize at the International Bosendorfer Competition, Belgium, 4th Prize Montreal International Piano Competition and 2nd Prize PTNA Piano Competition, Japan. She has also received a Commemorative Medal from the F.Chopin Scholarship Fund Committee, Poland.
Megumi has performed numerous concertos and recitals throughout the world, and has broadcast on radios including the BBC Radio 3, Japan NHK FM radio, Canadian Radio, Moroccan national radio, and the Romanian national TV and radio.
The conductors Megumi have collaborated with include Sergiu Comissiona, Issac Karabchevsky, Daisuke Muranaka, Sung Kwak, Louis Lane, Robert Shaw, Christian Mandeal, I.Ionescu.Galati, David Josefowitz, and Yukio Kitahara.
Megumi is also an active chamber musician, as a pianist of the Fujita Piano Trio, and regularly collaborating with other musicians including the Dominant Quartet of Russia.
Megumi has recorded the Takemitsu Chamber works and piano solo works for the ASV, Tchaikovsky Piano Trio, Rachmaninov 24 Preludes (piano solo), Chopin 24 Etudes (piano solo), Shostakovich/Ravel Trios, Schubert Piano Trios, Dvorak/Smetana Piano Trios, Mendelssohn Piano Trios and a Piano Solo Recital disc featuring works by Beethoven, Ravel and Rachmaninov with the Swedish label Intim Musik.
The hugely popular annual Fujita Masterclass in Tokyo for Soloists and Chamber musicians has been running since 2016.
Megumi launched the critically acclaimed Chopin Etudes Concert and Masterclass Series in 2018, and has so far reached Tokyo, Osaka and Sendai.
"..this was among the best recitals I've heard this year to mark the 150th Anniversary of Schumann's death."
Musical Opinion, Wigmore Hall 2006
13th
October 1983
To whom it may concern
It is a pleasure for me to recommend the young pianist Megumi Fujita who in my opinion has a very good future before her. She has already a very good technique and she is very deeply gifted as a musician.
Vlado Perlemuter
Letter from the late Lord Menuhin
25 February 1991
To whom it may concern
I have known Megumi Fujita for several years, both as a pupil of my school and as a musician with whom I have played on a number of occasions. She has very special pianistic and musical gifts and is a delightful young lady. Her sincerity and deep commitment communicate themselves to audiences, who always respond to her performance with great warmth and enthusiasm. Megumi Fujita is a remarkable young musician whose playing combines brilliance and drama with intensly poetic lyrical qualities.
Yehudi Menuhin
29th May 2019
Megumi Fujita is a pianist of high artistic achievement, who communicates in her playing insights of rare significance. In her performances her artistry is always supremely at the service of the music and the composer; a strong interpretive personality creates a sense of communication with each member of the audience.
Simon Nicholls