Dr Kenji Fujimura has been described as a 'musical polymath' (Musicweb International), equally at home as pianist, chamber musician, researcher, and pedagogue. He is well known for his championing of a diverse and eclectic repertoire of music. As a performer, recent CDs include: William Hurlstone Complete Piano Music (Musicweb International Recording of the Month, May 2015; Fanfare USA Colin Clarke’s 2015 ‘Top 5 Want List’); Trio Anima MundiRomantic Piano Trios (2013 Musicweb International Recording of the Year), English Piano Trios (2020 Musicweb Recording of the Month, January), Complete Violin Sonatas of George Frederick Pinto, The Messiaen Nexus (2014 Limelight Chamber Music Recording of the Year) with violinist Elizabeth Sellars; and most recently, Carl Gottlieb Reissiger, Complete Piano Trios, Volume 1.

 

Kenji is also a multi-award-winning composer. His works have been performed throughout USA, Romania, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. Recent prizes include the Singapore Asian Composers Festival award, William Lincer Foundation Award (New York), and the VirtualArtists International Composition Award (USA). His compositions were also shortlisted for the 2019 Reno Pops Orchestra Composition Prize (USA) and a finalist for the 3rd Cum Laude International Music Composition Prize (Spain). New commissions premiered in the 2022-2024 seasons included works for solo piano, bassoon/cello/piano, and piano trio, including a new work supported by the City of Melbourne. His music is distributed by Universal Edition (Vienna). Recent publications include a book chapter for the volume Debussy in Context for Cambridge University Press (2024).

 

Kenji’s tertiary-teaching career began while he was still an undergraduate. With over thirty years' experience as a pedagogue, supervisor, and administrator, he retired from his position as Deputy Head of School and Associate Professor at Monash University, and full-time academia, in December 2018, and now shares his time as Executive Director of the International Academy of Musical Arts (IAMUSICA), Associate Lecturer at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Founding Member of Trio Anima Mundi, Patron of the Association of Eisteddfod Societies of Australia, and an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board.

 

He is frequently invited to competition, funding, and awards panels, including for the City of Melbourne Arts Grants, the Sparta International Film Festival, and Chair of the Melbourne International Piano and Strings Festival Competition. In 2015 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, for his ‘significant contribution to the music profession’.

 

A native of Japan now resident in Australia, Kenji's formative music study was undertaken in both countries. Completing the four-year Bachelor of Music degree with Honours in two years at The University of Melbourne, he subsequently pursued postgraduate studies concurrently in Melbourne and London, winning prizes and accolades as pianist, fortepianist, and chamber musician. His principal teachers were Ronald Farren-Price, Sumiko Hirose, Joane Simons, and Frank Wibaut.