Akimi Fukuhara, pianist
Praised in the New York Times for her “energetic” and “shapely read” performances, pianist Akimi Fukuhara has appeared at many prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Salle Cortot in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, The National Concert Hall in Taipei, The Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, the Beijing Concert Hall.
Ms. Fukuhara was born in Osaka, Japan, and studied under the tutelage of Mie Ishii Matsuoka in Tokyo. She made her recital debut at the age of 12 in Tokyo’s prestigious Suntory Hall. L’enfant de la musique, the live recording of her recital at Hamarikyu-Asahi Hall in Tokyo at the age of 14 was released under the Platz Label, and is available today from the Naxos Music Library.
She came to the United States at the age of 15, going on to study at San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Mack McCray and Sharon Mann. At the age of 17, Akimi recorded her second solo album, Akimi Plays Chopin and Liszt. Subsequently, Akimi was awarded the Susan W. Rose Scholarship at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky.
Beginning in 2010 Ms. Fukuhara has collaborated extensively with the legendary cellist, Christine Walevska. Together they recorded three albums and have toured throughout Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Ecuador, and New York. One concert was featured on NHK-FM’s Best of Classics radio program, and the live recording was released from Japan Westminster in 2011. In 2014 they recorded an album sponsored by the ChiMei Museum in Taiwan. Ms. Fukuhara was also named a CHANEL Pygmalion Days Artist in Japan.
In 2017, she released her third solo album Brahms: Klavierstücke which was featured in the December 2017 issue of Record Gaijutsu magazine, the premier classical music magazine in Japan.
As a chamber musician, she has performed and recorded with renowned artists including Christine Walevska, Nathaniel Rosen, Pierre Amoyal, Toby Hoffman, Heiichiro Ohyama, Fred Sherry, Alexander Barantschik, Wang Tao, and many others. Ms. Fukuhara has recorded three albums under the ShoFuSha label, and two more are in the works.
In February 2019, Akimi will be performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama.