The Fujita sisters from Japan have been playing chamber music together since early childhood. They made a highly acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall in March 1999.
Concert engagements have taken the Trio to more than 100 venues in the UK. Overseas, they have played in Canada, France, Italy, Ireland, Romania, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey, and they have won numerous awards and prizes, both as a Trio and individually.

Arisa studied with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music, London (where she now teaches), Honoka studied at the Guildhall School with Jennifer Ward Clarke and Raphael Wallfisch, where the Trio also received coaching from the Takacs Quartet. Megumi studied at the Menuhin School with Louis Kentner, Simon Nicholls and Vlado Perlemuter and continued her studies at the Royal College of Music with Irina Zaritskaya. They won the Chamber Music Prize at the Guildhall School in 1994.

The sisters have performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto numerous times with orchestras including the G..Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania) and the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra in venues including the Barbican Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the Atheneum Hall (Bucharest). They have toured Loire, France with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. Their performance of the Triple Concerto with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra at the Radio Hall, Bucharest was broadcast live by national television and radio.

In England, the Trio has performed at more than 100 venues including the Barbican Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, St.Martin-in-the-Fields, Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, and at the Exeter, King's Lynn, and Salisbury Festival.

The Trio has recorded Toru Takemitsu Chamber Works for ASV Records, Tchaikovsky Piano Trio, Shostakovich/Ravel Piano Trios, Schubert Piano Trios, and the Dvorak/Smetana Piano Trios with the Swedish label Intim Musik. Arisa has released Ysaye 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin Op. 27, and Megumi, Rachmaninov 24 Preludes.

2006 saw a return visit to the Wigmore Hall Sunday Coffee concert series and a performance of Beethoven Triple Concerto in Japan with Kyoto Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2007, awarded the Kyoto Aoyama Barocksaal Prize for their recital in Kyoto, Japan.

Future engagements include concerts in Sweden and throughout the UK.

"(Between Tides) is as heartbreakingly beautiful as anything in all of music....simply magnificent"
American Record Guide, Takemitsu CD review

"tour de force in all respects."

Musical Opinion, Wigmore Hall Recital


 

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Prizewinner at prestigious international competitions, Megumi Fujita has performed worldwide, and has recorded numerous CDs including the critically acclaimed Takemitsu and Rachmaninov 24 Preludes.

Megumi was born in New Zealand as a daughter of a Japanese Diplomat. She started to study piano at the age of five in Japan. After studying in Atlanta, USA and Baghdad, Iraq, she joined the Yehudi Menuhin School in 1979 to study with Simon Nicholls and Louis Kentner.

At 19, she was selected as a post-graduate student at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel-Aviv University and studied with Irina Zaritskaya winning First Prize in the Piano Competition at the Academy the same year.
She continued her post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music with Irina Zaritskaya, winning the Hopkinson Gold Medal in 1986.

Megumi has since won numerous prizes including 3rd Prize at the International Bosendorfer Competition, Belgium, 4th Prize Montreal International Piano Competition and 2nd Prize PTNA Piano Competition, Japan. She has also received a Commemorative Medal from the F.Chopin Scholarship Fund Committee, Poland.

Megumi has performed numerous concertos and recitals throughout the world, and has broadcast on radios including the BBC Radio 3, Japan NHK FM radio, Canadian Radio, Moroccan national radio, and the Romanian national TV and radio.

Megumi is also an active chamber musician, as a pianist of the Fujita Piano Trio, and regularly collaborating with other musicians including the Dominant Quartet of Russia.

Megumi has recorded the Takemitsu Chamber works and piano solo works for the ASV, Tchaikovsky Piano Trio, Rachmaninov 24 Preludes for piano, Shostakovich/Ravel Trios, Schubert Piano Trios and Dvorak/Smetana Piano Trios with the Swedish label Intim Musik.

Future engagements include concerts in Sweden and throughout the UK, and a Solo Piano Recital at the Wigmore Hall on 19th June 2009.

"..this was among the best recitals I've heard this year to mark the 150th Anniversary of Schumann's death."
Musical Opinion, Wigmore Hall 2006

Click here to listen to Megumi playing Rachmaninov Prelude
Op.23 No.4 in D major.

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Daughter of a Japanese Diplomat, cellist Honoka Fujita has studied in various countries before settling in the UK in 1985. After studying with Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she has performed in many prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Honoka Fujita was born in Japan. She started to study the cello under Una O'Sullivan and Joan Lavelle in Ireland, then continued her studies with Prof.Uzi Wiesel, Tel Aviv, Israel, then with Jennifer Ward Clarke in London.

She entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and graduated with B.Mus.(Hons), followed by Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) in 1997, studying with both Jennifer Ward Clarke and Raphael Wallfisch.

Honoka has won many prizes including; Semi-finalist at Maria Canals International Competition (Barcelona, 1996), First Prize Toussaint Memorial Bach Prize (GSMD), First Prize John and Edith Pleeth Memorial Sonata Prize (GSMD), First Prize Elsie Doris Moss Memorial Concerto Prize (GSMD), First Prize Chamber Music Prize (GSMD), First Prize First Year Cello Prize (GSMD), Finalist Dorothy Adams String Quartet Prize (GSMD).

Honoka has played the Beethoven Triple concerto with her sisters at the major venues including the Barbican Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Radio Hall, Bucharest - which was broadcasted live by TV and Radio, and the Brahms Double Concerto at the St.John's Smith Square.

With her sisters, she has played at major venues including the Wigmore Hall, St.John's Smith Square, St.Martin-in-the-fields Church, the Crucible Theatre (Sheffield), the Salisbury Festival, the Ateneum Hall (Bucharest), the Salle Willfried Pelletier of the Place des Arts (Montreal), Cemal Resit Rey Hall, (Istanbul, Turkey), Instituto Giapponese di Cultura (Rome), Egyptian Opera House Small Hall (Cairo), Musse dus Beaux Arts (Alexandria, Egypt), Complexe Sidi Belyout (Casablanca, Morocco), Ahmed Bahnini Concert Hall (Rabat, Morocco).

Honoka has recorded the chamber music works by Takemitsu for ASV Records, Tchaikovsky Piano Trio, Shostakovich No.1 and No.2 Piano Trios, Ravel Piano Trio, Schubert Piano Trio No.1 and No.2, Dvorak 'Dumky' Piano Trio and the Smetana Piano Trio with the Swedish label Intim Musik.

Future engagements include concerts in Sweden and throughout the UK.

"Honoka Fujita's cello sounds especially warm and masculine, her playing is impulsive and very poetic."
Fanfare magazine (USA) 2008 Shostakovich/Ravel Piano Trio CD


Click here to listen to Honoka playing the Andante molto tranquillo from
Grieg Sonata.

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Versatile violinist Arisa Fujita is in great demand both as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as teaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Born in Japan, Arisa came to England in 1985 to study with David Takeno. In 1988, she won the Audi Junior Musician Competition. She entered Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991 (where she now teaches) and won all available violin prizes, Rose Bowl, Sheriff's Prize and a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

She graduated with B.Mus (Hons) First Class Degree in 1995 and gained Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) in 1998. Arisa was also a recipient of the Emily English Award, Maisie Lewis Young Artists Award and the Boise Foundation Scholarship. She was also a semi-finalist in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998.

Arisa has performed concertos in numerous venues including the Barbican Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St.John's Smith Square, Purcell Room, also, in Belgrade (Yugoslavia), Montana (Switzerland), and Bucharest, Brasov (Romania). With her two sisters as the Fujita Piano Trio, she has performed the Beethoven Triple Concertos numerous times including a live TV and Radio broadcast with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra in Bucharest. She has performed in many countries around the world including France, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Yugoslavia, Canada, Romania, Turkey, Morocco, Japan and the UK, also a tour of Rome, Morocco and Egypt organized by the Japan Foundation.

Arisa has being attending the Open Chamber Music Seminar of the IMS Prussia Cove and has also taken part in their national tour. Arisa performed in concerts with the cellist Steven Isserlis performing the Saint-Saens "La muse et le poete" for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in Oxford, Bath and Swindon.

In June 2003, Arisa with her sister Megumi made a highly acclaimed recital at the Wigmore Hall performing a programme, and in 2006 toured Sweden with Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. Arisa has recorded the Takemitsu Chamber works (ASV), Tchaikovsky Piano Trio, Ysaye Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Shostakovich/Ravel Trios, Schubert Piano Trios and Dvorak/Smetana Piano Trios with the Swedish label Intim Musik.

Future engagements include concerts in Sweden and throughout the UK.

"(Arisa Fujita) gave a remarkably impressive recital at the Wigmore Hall...
brilliantly and movingly played." Musical Opinion 2003 Wigmore Hall Recital

Click here to listen to Arisa playing the Allegro from
Beethoven "Spring" Sonata.

 

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Updated 17/04/09
Arisa Fujita - violin
Megumi Fujita - piano
Honoka Fujita - cello