About the artists
Nobuyuki Tsujii
Piano
Described by The Observer as the “definition of virtuosity” Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii (Nobu), who has been blind from birth, won the joint Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009 and has gone on to earn an international reputation for the passion and excitement he brings to his live performances.
Nobu’s 2024/25 season opens with an extensive concert tour of Japan with Robin Ticciati and London Philharmonic Orchestra. This is closely followed by a solo appearance with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and a subsequent tour of Australia that sees Nobu appear as a concerto soloist alongside the Sydney, Queensland and Tasmanian symphony orchestras and in a recital at Melbourne Recital Centre and UKARIA Adelaide. He returns to the United States for concerts at Carnegie Hall, Civic Music Association Des Moines, La Jolla Music Society, ANA Honolulu Music Week, and as a soloist with Seattle Symphony Orchestra. European dates include concerti with Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, George Enescu Philharmonic Bucharest, Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and recitals at London’s Southbank Centre, National Concert Hall Dublin, Interlaken Classics, and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
Earlier seasons have seen Nobu appear in concert with leading orchestras worldwide including Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Seattle and Baltimore symphony orchestras, Münchner Philharmoniker, Filarmonica della Scala, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich at the Wiener Musikverein, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi and Hong Kong Philharmonic. He maintains a close relationship with Domingo Hindoyan and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he performed a sold-out concert at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms in 2023. Notable past collaborations also include the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg under Kent Nagano, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under Klaus Mäkelä, the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover under Andrew Manze, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko, and BBC Philharmonic under Juanjo Mena. Nobu’s appearances as a recitalist have included performances at prestigious venues worldwide such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall and Royal Albert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, and Singapore Esplanade.
An exclusive recording artist for Avex Classics International, Nobu’s growing album catalogue encompasses the breadth of the piano concerto repertoire. It currently includes Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2 with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Rachmaninov’s Variations on a theme of Paganini under Vasily Petrenko with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 with Yutaka Sado and BBC Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Nobu has also recorded several recital programmes of Chopin, Mozart, Debussy, and Liszt.
A live DVD recording of Nobu’s 2011 Carnegie Hall recital was named DVD of the Month by Gramophone, as was his latest DVD release, ‘Touching the Sound — The Improbable Journey of Nobuyuki Tsujii’, a documentary film by Peter Rosen.
Nobu’s international tours are supported by All Nippon Airways (ANA) and he gratefully acknowledges their assistance.
