Featured Artist

Nobuaki Fukukawa

"Nobuaki is naturally gifted and charismatic musician with a wide musical range." -Paavo Järvi-

The winner of the 77th Music Competition of Japan (horn division) in 2008, Fukukawa has performed as a soloist with NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra and more, under the batons of conductors such as Joe Hisaishi, Kenichiro Kobayashi, Ryusuke Numajiri, Tatsuya Shimono, Yukinori Tezuka, Toshiaki Umeda, Sachio Fujioka and Masato Suzuki.

Eminent conductors and players both inside and outside Japan have great confidence in Fukukawa, who collaborated recently with the former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Rainer Küchl as well as the oboist and composer Heinz Holliger.

Fukukawa is invited to concert halls all over the country for concert series and music festivals, La Folle Journée au Japon and Spring Festival in Tokyo to name a few. Having a passionate concern for expanding the horn’s repertoire, Fukukawa has frequently commissioned and given the world premiere for new horn works. Several dozen pieces have been specially composed for him, including The Border by Joe Hisaishi, Spiral Bird Suite by Takashi Yoshimatsu, PoyoPoyo, Yurayura, Zazaza, Harahara, and Horn Concerto No.2 by Dai Fujikura, Enchanted Forest by Karen Tanaka, Rhapsody in Horn by Motoharu Kawashima, Das Lebewohl by Kenji Sakai, MOZARTiana and MINIATURE OF THE WORLD both by Masato Suzuki.

Fukukawa’s activities as soloist extend to period instruments. He performed as a guest principal horn player with Bach Collegium Japan. In recent years, he focused on chamber music as a member of “Harmoniemusik”, an ensemble featuring top members of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He is also a member of the all-star virtuosi group “Tokyo Sextet”. Fukukawa’s recitals, concerto and chamber music concerts have been broadcasted on domestic TV networks such as NHK, TV Asahi, and Fuji Television, as well as foreign channels in Germany and Italy.

Fukukawa served as the principal horn player at the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra since he was twenty years old. He joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2013 and assumed the post of its principal player in 2015.

Fukukawa released his solo CD “Rhapsody in Horn”series(1-3), “Absolutely Fukukawa” and “Mozart Horn Concertos”on King Records, Japan.

Professor of Tokyo College of Music.