Autumn Concert featuring Masahide Kurita with Kenji Fujimura
When: Sunday 1st March 2020 3PM
Where: Ledger Gallery
Price: $27 members / $30 non-members
This concert is supported by Dr Geraldine Lazarus and Mr Greig Gailey
Presented by Melbourne Recital Centre in association with Benalla Art Gallery
Continuing a proud history of music concerts at the Gallery, Benalla Art Gallery is partnering with Melbourne Recital Centre to present a wonderful series of seasonal performances in 2020. Each concert has been selected to resonate with the Gallery’s program of exhibitions.
Benalla Art Gallery’s Autumn Concert features Masahide Kurita and Kenji Fujimura. Just as the Gallery’s current Collection exhibition, On the Up, features masterpieces by artists such as Hans Heysen, John Brack, and Margaret Preston, Kurita and Fujimura’s piano and flute recital will also cover the classics, from Debussy to Poulenc, Morlacchi to Muramatsu.
About Masahide Kurita
Renowned Australian-based flautist Masahide Kurita was born in Utsunomiya, Japan. He started his musical education at the age of five and debuted as soloist on the flute when he was 12, going on to win first prize in the Tochigi Prefecture Music competition at the age of 14. Masahide won first prize in the prestigious All Japan Student Music Competition in Tokyo in 1992, and in the same year went on to study at Japan’s internationally renowned Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. After his studies in Tokyo, Masahide began a two-year training course for soloists at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Masahide Kurita has taken lessons and master classes with Sir James Galway in Japan, the United States and Switzerland. His meetings and subsequent lessons with Sir James Galway have been fundamental in shaping his artistic tone development, outstanding technical virtuosity and ultimately realising the immense potential of his sensitive and profound musicality. Masahide Kurita cultivates and performs an extensive repertoire covering many of the seminal works composed for his instrument from the Baroque to the present day. His highly polished technique and rich tone, depth and clarity of musical expression, as well as his delicately nuanced attention to detail give his music-making a rare honesty, beauty and flavour unlike other flautists. He is currently working on a casual basis with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
About Kenji Fujimura
Dr Kenji Fujimura is an internationally-acclaimed pianist and chamber musician. Recent CDs include: Trio Anima Mundi – Romantic Piano Trios (2013 Musicweb International Recording of the Year), Complete Violin Sonatas of George Frederick Pinto, and The Messiaen Nexus (2014 Limelight Chamber Music Recording of the Year) with violinist Elizabeth Sellars; William Hurlstone Complete Piano Music (Musicweb International Recording of the Month, May 2015; Fanfare USA Colin Clarke’s 2015 ‘Top 5 Want List’). Kenji is also a multi-award-winning composer. His compositions 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 in New York, and the VirtualArtists International Composition Award. A native of Japan now resident in Australia, Kenji’s formative music studies were undertaken in both countries. Kenji completed his four-year Bachelor of Music degree with Honours in two years at The University of Melbourne, and subsequently pursued Master’s and Doctoral studies in Melbourne and London, winning prizes and accolades as pianist, fortepianist, and chamber musician.
Repertoire
Poulenc | Flute Sonata
Boyd | Bail Moods No.1
Matsutoya | Haruyokoi (Spring has come)
Nielsen | The Children are Playing for flute solo
Debussy | Syrinx for flute solo
Kenji | Sans piano solo
Muramatsu | Earth
Morlacchi | The Swiss Shepherd
Bookings essential:
Tickets available via Gallery reception, or
T 03 5760 2619, or
gallery@benalla.vic.gov.au
