Mao Fujita

Born in Tokyo, Fujita was still studying at the Tokyo College of Music in 2017 when he took First Prize at the prestigious Concours International de Piano Clara Haskil in Switzerland, along with the Audience Award, Prix Modern Times, and the Prix Coup de Coeur, which first brought him to the attention of the international music community. He was also the Silver Medalist at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, where his special musical qualities received exceptional attention from a jury of leading musicians.

In the 2025/26 season, Fujita continues his run of impressive appearances at major festivals and venues across Europe, America, and Asia, including Salzburg Festival, Vienna, Paris, Rome, Luxembourg, Hamburg, Dortmund, Gstaad, Warsaw, Tenerife, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Lyon, and Aix-en-Provence, as well as a recital tour across North America with performances in New York, Cleveland, Boston, Minnesota, San Francisco, Vancouver, and San Diego. Season highlights also include tours in Asia and Europe with Filarmonica della Scala (Chung), Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Järvi), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (van Zweden), and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (V. Petrenko). In addition, he debuts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, as well as Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and returns with the Czech Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester, Wiener Symphoniker, Deutsches-Symphonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI.

Fujita has worked with many of the leading conductors of our time, including Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Elim Chan, Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gatti, Manfred Honeck, Jakub Hrůša, Marek Janowski, Andris Nelsons, Petr Popelka, Lahav Shani, and Kazuki Yamada. Previous orchestral debuts include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Philharmoniker, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Fujita is also a sought-after chamber music partner and has worked with Renaud Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos, Emanuel Ax, Kirill Gerstein, Antoine Tamestit, Kian Soltani, and the Hagen Quartett, among others.

Fujita is an exclusive Sony Classical International artist. In October 2022, his eagerly-anticipated debut album on the Sony Classical label, a studio recording of Mozart’s complete piano sonatas, was released to unanimous acclaim for its transparent sound worlds and vividly-detailed interpretation. He has performed the full sonata cycle at the Verbier Festival, the Wigmore Hall, and across Japan’s major concert halls. His second album on the Sony Classical label, a wide-ranging and ambitious set entitled ’72 Preludes’ that champions the 24 Preludes of Chopin, Scriabin, and Yashiro, was released in the autumn of 2024.

Starting piano lessons at the age of three, Fujita won his first international prize in 2010 at the World Classic in Taiwan, and became a laureate of numerous national and international competitions such as the Rosario Marciano International Piano Competition in Vienna (2013), Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians (2015), and the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition (2016).

Fujita is a member of Konzerthaus Dortmund’s series “Junge Wilde” from the 24/25 season.

2025/26 season / 592 words. Not to be altered without permission.