Nobuyuki Tsujii


Nobuyuki Tsujii is a Japanese pianist and composer. He was born blind due to microphthalmia, and his exceptional musical talent has propelled him to become a world renowned artist. Tsujii performs extensively, with a large number of conductors and orchestras, and has received critical acclaims as well as notices for his unique techniques for learning music and performing with an orchestra while being unable to see.

Early life and education

Nobuyuki Tsujii was born blind due to microphthalmia. From an early age, he exhibited exceptional talent and musical ability. At age two, he began to play "Do Re Mi" on a toy piano after hearing his mother hum the tune. He began formal piano study at the age of four. In 1995, at age seven, Tsujii won the first prize at the All Japan Music of Blind Students by the Tokyo Helen Keller Association. In 1998, at age ten, he debuted with the Century Orchestra, Osaka.
He gave his first piano recital in the small hall of Tokyo's Suntory Hall at age 12. Subsequently, he made his overseas debut with performances in the United States, France, and Russia. In October 2005, he reached the semifinal and received the Critics’ Award at the 15th International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition held in Warsaw, Poland.
In April 2007, Tsujii entered Ueno Gakuen University, graduating in March 2011.

Career

Tsujii competed in the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and tied for the gold medal with Haochen Zhang. He was also awarded the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the best performance of a new work. He played all twelve of Frédéric Chopin's Études as part of his performance in the preliminaries. Tsuji was one of the competitors prominently featured in the Peter Rosen documentary film about the 2009 Van Cliburn competition, A Surprise in Texas, which was first broadcast on PBS TV in 2010.
In addition to being a pianist, Tsujii is a composer. At age 12, he performed his own composition "Street Corner of Vienna". He has since released numerous albums of his own compositions. He is also a film music composer and the 2011 recipient of the :ja:日本映画批評家大賞|Japan Film Critics Award for Film Music.
On November 10, 2011, Tsujii made his debut in the main hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, as part of the Keyboard Virtuosos II series.
Tsujii debuted at the BBC Proms on July 16, 2013, with a performance with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena.
Tsujii is featured in a 2013 English textbook for high schools in Japan. A 2014 film Touching the Sound, also by Peter Rosen, documents Tsujii's life from birth to his 2011 Carnegie Hall debut, including footage of his visit to the region in Japan that suffered the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Comments on Tsujii

is quoted as having told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "He was absolutely miraculous. His performance had the power of a healing service. It was truly divine." 2009 Van Cliburn Competition Juror Richard Dyer, a chief music critic for The Boston Globe, said, "Very seldom do I close my notebook and just give myself over to it, and he made that necessary. I didn't want to be interrupted in what I was hearing."
2009 Van Cliburn Competition Juror Michel Béroff, an award-winning internationally known pianist, told the Japanese monthly piano magazine Chopin, "The special thing about his performance is his sound. It has depth, color and contrast, the genuine music."
In the documentary A Surprise in Texas, Menahem Pressler, Cliburn juror and an eminent pianist, says: "I have the utmost admiration for . God has taken his eyes, but given him the physical endowment and mental endowment to encompass the greatest works of piano. For him to play the Chopin concerto with such sweetness, gentleness and sincerity -- it's deeply touching. I had to keep from crying when I left the room."
Scott Cantrell in his review of the 2009 Van Cliburn competition for The Dallas Morning News wrote that "It's almost beyond imagining that he has learned scores as formidable as Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto and Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata by ear…Through all three rounds, he played with unfailing assurance, and his unforced, utterly natural Chopin E-Minor Piano Concerto was an oasis of loveliness."
John Giordano, music director and conductor of Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra who was jury chairman for the Cliburn competition, said in 2010, "He’s amazing. We closed our eyes and it’s so phenomenal that it’s hard to withhold your tears.
Nobu played the most difficult hour-long Beethoven piece flawlessly. For anyone, it’s extraordinary. But for someone blind who learns by ear, it’s mind-boggling."
In an interview after the November 2011 Carnegie Hall debut recital of Tsujii, Van Cliburn said on TV Asahi, "What a thrill to hear this brilliant, very gifted, fabulous pianist. You feel God's presence in the room when he played. His soul is so pure. His music is so wonderful, and it goes to infinity to the highest heaven."
In a 2014 review in The Daily Telegraph, David Fanning wrote, "...Nobuyuki Tsujii’s performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. This was not just supersonic in its tempos but remarkably clean, and also responsive to the fairy-tale poetry that sets off the steely aggression." On Tsujii's debut performance with the Munich Philharmonic on November 4, 2015, the Münchner Merkur wrote "At first he seems a little uncertain, but as soon as he sits down at the piano, he is like a different person. The supposed handicap turns out to be his strength: The Japanese sinks into Beethoven's fifth piano concerto. The high chords of the second movement seem to float with his feather-light touch."
Upon the conclusion of a tour in Japan with Tsujii in November 2015, conductor Valery Gergiev said: "He is not only a great musician and star in Japan, he shows that the human resources are virtually limitless. He shows that there is practically nothing that a human being cannot do."
Conductor Bramwell Tovey, who performed with Tsujii and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in May 2017, made this comment: "There are lots of pianists who find Chopin baffling. But he's found a way that almost simplifies it, without simplifying any of the technical difficulties, and I mean he makes light of the technical difficulties. He has just found a way to express all of those different emotions on the journey until in the end there's just this incredible feeling of for me, sunlight. I just love playing with him."
In 2017, on the tenth anniversary of Tsujii's career début, pianist-conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy commented: "Nobuyuki Tsujii is one of my very favourite young pianists. He possesses a rare combination of excellent pianism and genuinely expressive musicianship. It is always a great pleasure to work with him and I wish him a future of many wonderful concerts." In a 2018 TV documentary filmed in Iceland, Ashkenazy stated: "It is such a pleasure to play with him, to accompany him because he is so musical, so clear, and I can always understand what he wants to do with music -- that makes accompaniment sort of natural and, in a way, easy. He is so musical, so organic that it is very easy to accompany him. I am very pleased to accompany such a good artist."
Japanese composer Takayuki Hattori wrote: "The music of Nobuyuki Tsujii is guileless. There is no excessive decoration. He plays the piano with a minimum amount of flourish as required by God. He is one of a few in existence qualified to play the works dedicated to the God of Music by composers. He inspires courage to live and engenders food for thought. It is a pleasure to be alive in the same era as this rare pianist."
Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, who teamed with Tsujii for the ending theme music of a 2018 film A Forest of Wool and Steel, commented "Mr. Tsujii is a really wonderful pianist, especially the sense of rhythm is amazing. A neat rhythm without useless things."

Method

Tsujii learns new musical works strictly by ear. A 2009 Time article explains: "Certainly, being blind hasn't made it easy. Tsujii can use Braille music scores to learn new pieces, but this kind of translation is usually done by volunteers. Because demand is so low, the variety of scores available does not meet the needs of a professional performer, so Tsujii has devised his own method. A team of pianists records scores along with specific codes and instructions written by composers, which Tsujii listens to and practices until he learns and perfects each piece.".
Tsujii said in a 2011 interview, "I learn pieces by listening, but it doesn't mean I'm copying CDs or another person's interpretation. I ask my assistants to make a special cassette tape for me. They split the piece into small sections, such as several bars, and record it. I call these tapes 'music sheets for ears.' It takes me a few days to complete a short piece, but it takes one month to complete a big sonata or concerto."

Performance technique

In 2017, a reporter from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Monique Schafter, asked Tsujii "How do you stay in time when you can't see the conductor?" The pianist replied: " By listening to the conductor's breath and also sensing what's happening around me." Conductor Bramwell Tovey commented: "He must have very acute hearing, I'm sure."

Recordings

Tsujii has an extensive discography. His recordings are now available worldwide.
Following is a list of his CDs and DVDs, most recent first:
Album titleLabelRelease dateNotes-
Maurice Ravel WorksTonkünstler OrchestraFebruary 14, 2020with Yutaka Sado and Tonkünstler Orchestra; piano concerto recorded live at the Vienna Musikverein].]
Franck & Brahms Violin Sonatas, Fumiaki Miura & Nobuyuki TsujiiAvex ClassicsJune 26, 2019-
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2, Nocturne, Nobuyuki Tsujii × AshkenazyAvex ClassicsOctober 31, 2018with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin & Vladimir Ashkenazy-
Grieg Piano Concerto, Rachmaninov Paganini RhapsodyAvex ClassicsMay 9, 2018with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic & Vasily Petrenko-
Beethoven Pathetique, Moonlight, AppassionataAvex ClassicsJanuary 31, 2018-
Début 10 yearsAvex ClassicsNovember 8, 2017-
Chopin:Etude&BalladAvex ClassicsNovember 23, 2016-
Liszt Sonata in B minor & Ravel Gaspard de la nuitAvex ClassicsJuly 20, 2016-
Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 & 2Avex ClassicsOctober 21, 2015-
ImpressionsAvex ClassicsJuly 22, 201514 tracks of compositions by Debussy, Ravel and the pianist himself-
Nobuyuki Tsujii Works Piano with Orchestra Avex ClassicsJanuary 28, 2015Tsujii's own compositions with orchestra-
Emperor & Coronation Nobuyuki Tsujii & Orpheus Chamber OrchestraAvex ClassicsJanuary 21, 2015-
Nobuyuki Tsujii plays Liszt Avex ClassicsSeptember 24, 2014-
Touching the Sound: The Improbable Journey of Nobuyuki Tsujii EuroArts MusicJuly 2014-
月の光～辻井伸行 plays ドビュッシー CDAvex ClassicsSeptember 11, 2013-
Nobuyuki Tsujii at White Nights EuroArts Music-
ジェニーへのオマージュ　自作集CD+自作 LIVE DVD 'Tribute to Jeanie' self-composition CD and DVDAvex ClassicsDecember, 2012-
辻井伸行 plays 花は咲く Nobuyuki Tsujii plays 'Flowers Bloom'Avex ClassicsOctober 17, 2012-
辻井伸行　モーツァルト・アルバム Nobuyuki Tsujii - Mozart AlbumAvex ClassicsSeptember 5, 2012-
はやぶさ　遥かなる帰還　オリジナル・サウンドトラック Hayabusa Harukanaru Kikan Original SoundtrackAvex ClassicsFebruary 8, 2012original film music composed by Tsujii-
辻井伸行　カーネギーホール・デビューLIVE Nobuyuki Tsujii Carnegie Hall Debut Live!Avex ClassicsDecember 28, 2011-
それでも、生きてゆく　オリジナル・サウンドトラックAvex ClassicsAugust 2011-
神様のカルテ~辻井伸行自作集 Nobuyuki Tsujii Works, 2000-2011Avex ClassicsJuly 2011a collection of Tsujii's own compositions-
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1Avex ClassicsFebruary 2011with Yutaka Sado and the BBC Philharmonic-
My Favorite Chopin Nobuyuki TsujiiAvex ClassicsMarch 2010-
Chopin: Piano WorksVictor JapanSeptember 2009two discs, 10 tracks each; recorded at the Chopin Piano Competition, 2005-
Pictures at an Exhibition Nobuyuki TsujiiAvex ClassicsSeptember 15, 2010-
Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1; Études, Op. 10harmonia mundi2010-
Nobuyuki Tsujii Cliburn 2009 Preliminary Round Recitalharmonia mundi2009also available as a DVD-
Nobuyuki Tsujii Cliburn Semifinal Round Recitalharmonia mundi2009also available as a DVD-
Nobuyuki Tsujii Cliburn Competition Final Round Recitalharmonia mundi2009also available as a DVD-
Nobuyuki Tsujii, Gold Medalist, 2009 - Winners CDharmonia mundi2009-
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2Avex Trax Japan2008with conductor Yutaka Sado and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin-
Début Nobuyuki TsujiiAvex Entertainment2007contains one disc of recitals of works of Chopin, Liszt, and Ravel; and a second disc with five original compositions of Tsujii-

Conductors and orchestras

Tsujii has performed successfully with numerous orchestras under the baton of many conductors, both in Japan and abroad. Conductors that he performed with in recent years include:
Tsujii has also performed with the Takács Quartet, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Piano concertos

Piano concertos that Tsujii has performed include Piano Concerto No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 2, Piano Concerto No. 3, Piano Concerto No. 5, Piano Concerto No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 3, Piano Concerto, Piano Concerto No. 2, Piano Concerto No. 3, Piano Concerto No. 20, Piano Concerto No. 21, Piano Concerto No. 26, Piano Concerto No. 27, Piano Concerto No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 2, Piano Concerto in G, Piano Concerto No. 1, and Piano Concerto No. 1. He has also performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Compositions

In addition to being a pianist, Tsujii is a composer.
At age 12, he performed his own composition "Street Corner of Vienna."
In 2010-2011, he composed the theme music for a Japanese film '神様のカルテ ', for which he was named the 2011 Film Music Artist by the Japan Film Critics Award. That same year, he also composed the theme music for a Japanese TV drama 'それでも、生きてゆく '.
In June 2011, Japanese figure skating champion Midori Ito performed in a world event to the music of "Whisper of the River," composed by Tsujii when he was in high school to express his love for his father after the two took a walk on the Kanda River in Tokyo.
Tsujii was the music director and composed the theme music for the Japanese film released in February 2012. In 2014, he composed the ending theme for the film 'マエストロ'.
In 2016, Tsujii created and performed the background music for a series of three animation of Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga scrolls produced by Studio Ghibli for Marubeni Corporation.
Tsujii's 2011 performance of his own composition, "Elegy for the Victims of the Tsunami of March 11, 2011 in Japan", is widely viewed on the Internet.

Prestigious Performances in Japan

In his native country, Nobuyuki Tsujii often appears in prestigious performances of national significance. On June 29 2019, he performed in Osaka for leaders from the Group of 20 major economies. On November 9 2019, Tsujii performed at the National Celebration for the Enthronement of Emperor Naruhito.

Charity Works

In the wake of Japan's 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Tsujii made numerous contributions to the restoration efforts. He was featured in an original short film "Lights of Japan" shown at the World Economics Summit in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2012.
In the film, he performed on a grand piano restored from the ravage of the March 2011 tsunami that devastated Eastern Japan. Additionally, he performed in numerous charity concerts on behalf of Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami victims, including a UNESCO concert held in Paris on March 11, 2012. Part of the proceeds from his 2012 Flowers Bloom CD goes towards Japan's earthquake reconstruction effort.
In addition to his earthquake relief effort, Tsujii frequently performs benefit concerts, such as for children's hospitals, the Japanese Red Cross and the disabled.
In the summer of 2012, Tsujii contributed to a one-million rubles donation from the proceeds of an acclaimed concert, in which he performed on July 8 with conductor Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, to the victims of a flood in Kuban that occurred the night before.
On October 25, 2015, Tsujii performed with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra in Boston, in partnership with the Japan Society of Boston and the Berklee College of Music, benefiting the Boston Higashi School and the Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta.
On the next day, Tsujii paid a special visit to the Higashi School and "inspired children and staff alike."
In Taiwan on April 15 2019, Tsujii visited the Taichung Hui Ming School for the Blind at the invitation of the TSMC Culture and Education Foundation, where he performed and spoke to the students, encouraging them to fulfill their potentials.