Arisa Fujita

Versatile violinist Arisa Fujita is in great demand both as a soloist and as a chamber musician.

Recent highlights include a tour of Sweden with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, performances at the Salzburg Festival, and a concert including Ravel’s Duo for Violin & Cello with Steven Isserlis, Béatrice Muthelet and Connie Shih at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris.

Born in Japan, Arisa came to England in 1985 to study with David Takeno. After winning the Audi Junior Musician Competition in 1988, she entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991 where she is now a violin professor. Whilst at the Guildhall, she won all the available violin prizes, including the Rose Bowl, Sheriff's Prize and a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. Arisa was also a recipient of an Emily English Award, Maisie Lewis Young Artists Award and a Boise Foundation Scholarship.

Arisa has performed extensively worldwide as a soloist and as a member of the distinguished Fujita PianoTrio formed with her two sisters. Highlights include a tour of Italy, Morocco and Egypt organised by the Japan Foundation and numerous performances of the Beethoven Triple Concerto including a live TV and Radio broadcast with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra in Bucharest. Since their Wigmore Hall debut in 1999, the Triohas performed at major London venues and throughout the UK at more than 120 venues.

Arisa has collaborated with various artists including Joshua Bell, Martin Lovett, Murray Perahia, Alexander Rudin and Steven Isserlis, with whom she has performed on numerous occasions including at the Wigmore, Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and in Japan and in France.

Arisa has been invited to the Open Chamber Music Seminar of the IMS Prussia Cove for many years and has also taken part in their national tour in 1999, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Following the release to critical acclaim of a CD with chamber works by Toru Takemitsu on the ASV Label, Arisa has recorded Ysaÿe’s 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin, the Tchaikovsky Trio, Shostakovich/Ravel Trios, Schubert Trios and Dvorak“Dumky”/Smetana Piano Trios all with Intim Musik Label.

Biographies

Honoka Fujita

Daughter of a Japanese Diplomat, cellist Honoka Fujita has studied in various countries before settling in the UK in 1985. After studying with Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she has performed in many prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Honoka Fujita was born in Japan. She started to study the cello under Una O'Sullivan and Joan Lavelle in Ireland, then continued her studies with Prof.Uzi Wiesel, Tel Aviv, Israel, then with Jennifer Ward Clarke in London.

She entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and graduated with B.Mus.(Hons), followed by Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) in 1997, studying with both Jennifer Ward Clarke and Raphael Wallfisch.

Honoka has won many prizes including; Semi-finalist at Maria Canals International Competition (Barcelona, 1996), First Prize Toussaint Memorial Bach Prize (GSMD), First Prize John and Edith Pleeth Memorial Sonata Prize (GSMD), First Prize Elsie Doris Moss Memorial Concerto Prize (GSMD), First Prize Chamber Music Prize (GSMD), First Prize First Year Cello Prize (GSMD), Finalist Dorothy Adams String Quartet Prize (GSMD).

Honoka has played the Beethoven Triple concerto with her sisters at the major venues including the Barbican Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Radio Hall, Bucharest - which was broadcasted live by TV and Radio, and the Brahms Double Concerto at the St.John's Smith Square.

With her sisters, she has played at major venues including the Wigmore Hall, St.John's Smith Square, St.Martin-in-the-fields Church, the Crucible Theatre (Sheffield), the Salisbury Festival, the Ateneum Hall (Bucharest), the Salle Willfried Pelletier of the Place des Arts (Montreal), Cemal Resit Rey Hall, (Istanbul, Turkey), Instituto Giapponese di Cultura (Rome), Egyptian Opera House Small Hall (Cairo), Musse dus Beaux Arts (Alexandria, Egypt), Complexe Sidi Belyout (Casablanca, Morocco), Ahmed Bahnini Concert Hall (Rabat, Morocco).

Honoka has recorded the chamber music works by Takemitsu for ASV Records, Tchaikovsky Piano Trio, Shostakovich No.1 and No.2 Piano Trios, Ravel Piano Trio, Schubert Piano Trio No.1 and No.2, Dvorak ‘Dumky’ Piano Trio and the Smetana Piano Trio with the Swedish label Intim Musik.

Future engagements include concerts in Sweden and throughout the UK.

Megumi Fujita

Prizewinner at prestigious international competitions, Megumi Fujita has performed worldwide, and has recorded numerous CDs including the critically acclaimed Takemitsu and Rachmaninov 24 Preludes.

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. After studying in Atlanta, USA and Baghdad, Iraq, she joined the Yehudi Menuhin School in 1979 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.

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 for piano, Shostakovich/Ravel Trios, Schubert Piano Trios and Dvorak/Smetana Piano Trios, and a Piano Solo recital disc featuring works by Beethoven, Ravel and Rachmaninov with the Swedish label Intim Musik.

"..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

Arisa Fujita

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