N PEOPLE

interview
PHOTOGRAPH: SIMON HILLCONTEMPORARY COMPOSURE

Dai Fujikura

PHOTOGRAPH: TOKO SUZUKI

Born in Osaka in 1977, Dai Fujikura has lived in the UK
since the age of 15. He has studied with leading composers Daryl Runswick, Edwin Roxburgh and George
Benjamin. His versatile compositions have won him prizes
and been performed throughout Europe and more recentlyin Japan, where he received 2nd prize in the coveted
Toru Takemitsu Award in May 2003.

musicians have such limited time, dashing from one end of thecity to the next. Working with the Tokyo Philharmonic was fascinating because they spent so much time on my piece, and I felt
they understood how to play it and were very committed to it.
What about your UK collaborations?
Over the years my music has been performed in places as varied as Huddersfield, Hoxton Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
I have developed a very good relationship with the London
Sinfonietta, which has played my music since 2000, and I am
currently working with them on their Blue Touch Paper.
What is Blue Touch Paper?
It is a commission, but unlike other commissions I have a budget which I can use freely and this has enabled me to experiment with instruments. I am developing my ‘spatial work’ andcurrently working on staging music. It is something I feel verystrongly about because the quality of recordings is so highnowadays, concert goers need to get more than just the performance of a piece. The music is the most important thing ofcourse, but the lighting and staging of the performance could
be so much better. My current project involves 10 players, andI place the cello, which has a significant part, at the front of thestage, the trumpet behind it as a shadow, and the other eightplayers within the audience. The conductor faces the public,
which makes them feel more involved in the actual performance, as though they were in a cinema.
Has film had an important influence on your work?
Yes. I wanted to be a film music composer when I wasyounger, then realised my direction was more towards contemporary music. But I always have a strong visual image when I
compose: it’s abstract, to do with colours, camera movement,
zooms. Last year, I scored the music for a short film called SaltScrubbers, which was part of the London Film Festival. Despite
time pressure, it felt very natural. There are constraints of course,
but what I love most about composition is the freedom to dowhat you like at the pace you like. I am also working with a friend
and video artist called Tomoya Yamaguchi. He’s actually a painterand only bought a video camera to film his children. We havealready done two collaborative pieces, teki, performed at thePurcell Room, and moromoro, performed in Holland by pianist
Tomoko Mukaiyama. Video and music share a time elementwhich painting doesn’t have. This is one of my new directions.
Future UK performances include March 12, and April 6 and 8.
For information and samples of Fujikura’s work, visit his website
www.daifujikura.com.
Interview by Elizabeth AvelingWhy did you come to the UK?
Because of the A’ Level system, whereby I could study fewer
subjects, but in greater depth. I always wanted to be a composer and staying in Japan meant spending too much time onother subjects, so I went to Dover College as a music scholar.
Why composition?
When I was young my piano teacher insisted that one shouldplay a piece as the composer intended. Now I think she isright, of course, but at the time I rebelled and thought I would
compose my own music so I could play it how I liked. My
mother read me stories about German and Austrian composers, which inspired me to go to Germany. I was going tomove there after Dover College, but at the time I did not reallylike the German contemporary music scene, so I stayed on in
the UK and studied composition at Trinity College. Ironicallymany of my projects and commissions are from Germany now.
You received recognition in Japan recently with Calling
Timbuktu?
Yes, I won 2nd prize in the 2003 Toru Takemitsu Awards. Thepiece was not written for the award. In fact, it was two years
old and now I think I could do so much better. I was lucky – itis every composer’s dream to actually have their music performed. Its UK premiere will be on March 12, played by theBBC Symphony Orchestra.
Do you think music is
perceived differentlyin Japan and the UK?
That would be the subject of an entire thesis.
Until last year, I had
never worked with aJapanese orchestra andwas nervous about using
polite forms ofJapanese. What struck
me most was therehearsal time: in the UK,3