Saturday, April 4, 2026
8:00 PM
Andris Nelsons and the BSO welcome Tokyo-born rising star Mao Fujita as the soloist in Mozart’s lively and delightful Piano Concerto No. 21. The program also includes the U.S. premiere of Outi Tarkiainen’s Day Night Day, a BSO co-commission inspired by traditional melodies from the composer’s native Lapland, and Sibelius’s rarely heard Symphony No. 1.
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Mao Fujita, piano
Outi TARKIAINEN Day Night Day (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
W.A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
Jean SIBELIUS Symphony No. 1
Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season on their site.
Hear a preview of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 with soloist Mao Fujita, as well as his first impressions of Symphony Hall and a conversation about his recording of solo piano music by Akio Yashiro.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Mao Fujita, who is making his Boston Symphony debut this week. Mao, thank you for a little of your time today. I appreciate it.
Mao Fujita Thank you very much. I'm very happy to have this interview with you.
Brian McCreath This is actually your second time in Boston this year. You came to Boston for a recital on the Vivo series. And I wonder, had you ever been to Boston before February when you came for that recital?
Mao Fujita No, unfortunately no. This was my first time when I came in February, and there was so much snow at that time. But yeah, I survived somehow, and then yes, this time in April, good season, a little bit temperature is higher, and yeah, I'm enjoying it a lot.
Brian McCreath Wonderful. I'm sure that you haven't had too much time to explore the city. Your travel plans are probably very tight. But tell me, now that you've been here to Boston, and you've had a chance to play in Symphony Hall, tell me about your sense of the sound in Symphony Hall and what it meant to you to sit down and play in the hall for the first time with the BSO.
Mao Fujita Oh yeah, this is a very, very special atmosphere, I must say. Before the rehearsal, I went on the stage alone, and then chose the piano. We had a piano selection. And during this session, I looked up into the hall, and it was phenomenal. It's such beautiful architecture. And also at the meantime I went to the foyer when the audience was coming in. And there's so many pictures of the legendary conductors and it includes of course, Seiji Ozawa-san, my, like, a legendary Japanese conductor. And then I noticed, oh, here's the place where he conducted for over 30 years. And then, I'm very proud to be here.
Brian McCreath And indeed, right outside the stage door, the little intersection there has been named Seiji Ozawa Square, very recently. But tell me about Seiji, and did you ever have a chance to meet him, or is he sort of one of those figures you looked to from afar as a hero in Japan?
Mao Fujita Unfortunately, I have not met him, but of course, I read so many books about him, and yes, as a Japanese who is learning the music, he is just a hero, an iconic person for Japanese musicians.
Brian McCreath Absolutely, and he really did so much for the Boston Symphony, opening up the audience in Japan, specifically to the Boston Symphony, but to classical music in general. He was a really amazing figure.
So you're playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, and you've recorded all of Mozart's sonatas. This music seems to be very, very tied to who you are as a musician, as it is maybe to most pianists. I mean, how can you be a pianist and not love Mozart? But there seems to be something special between you and Mozart, and I wonder how you can describe where that started and how that feels to you.
Mao Fujita This is very interesting for me that of course I learned a couple of the Mozart sonatas before, like, as a high school, university student, but not all of it. There are 18 sonatas, but during the pandemic time, suddenly concerts were canceled, canceled. All concerts are canceled. Then I had plenty of time to discover so many things. And I chose Mozart at that time. And I studied very hard every day, each movement, the new repertoire, and Mozart is just amazing. And yeah, when he composed the sonatas, he started at the age of 18. He's quite old compared to other symphony or violin sonatas. But there's already his style. But still, there's a space for developing himself. And when he wrote the last sonata, [K.]576, it's just beyond music. And it's almost reaching to the heaven. Yeah, it's amazing. Also, this concerto, C major, No. 21, there's the moment I feel so heavenly. Yes, moving place in the second movement. It's just so simple, written so simple style. Well, yes. It's [sings] Just a scale. But it's so touching. It's so moving, so attractive. This is genius of Mozart, I think. And now Mozart became my weapon for the concert.
Brian McCreath Absolutely. Well, you have added something, though, to the Piano Concerto No. 21 in the form of cadenzas that I wonder, first of all, are these your original cadenzas or did somebody else write them?
Mao Fujita Oh, these are my own cadences, yes.
Brian McCreath Oh my goodness, wow. They are amazing cadenzas. And is that a common practice for you to write your own cadenzas, or, when there is a written cadenza by a composer, do you prefer to play that? And in this particular case, tell me about what it was like to put together a cadenza you felt you wanted for the 21st Piano Concerto.
Mao Fujita Well, yes, so before, like, 50 years ago, I don't know, one century ago, this is common that the pianist writes the cadenza, their own cadenzas. But somehow, nowadays, there's so many versions of cadenzas, attractive cadenzas. And yes, people took someone's cadenza. But for me, the cadenza means in this part, you can show your ability of your technique or virtuosity or your sense of music, which harmony you take or which theme you get from the first theme or second theme or some between. These kinds of senses you can, you know, show them. So, for me, it's very natural things that I write my own cadenzas. Sometimes, like the [concertos] No. 23 or No. 27, Mozart already wrote the cadenza. Then sometimes also I wrote my cadenza in those the pieces, but I cannot play my cadenzas because Mozart wrote already so beautifully. So yeah, normally I write my cadenzas. I try, yes.
Brian McCreath Well, I'd say you succeed as well. They're really fascinating cadenzas. I loved hearing them when you rehearsed. It was really, really wonderful. Really, really terrific.
I think I heard you mention in an interview that you study with Kirill Gerstein. And Kirill is someone we know well here in Boston. He studied here first at Berklee as a jazz student. And then he's been a regular friend of the Boston Symphony for years. But tell me what it's like to work with Kirill as a student. What is it like to go into a lesson with him and hear what he has to say about your playing?
Mao Fujita Yeah, we somehow found the time to work together with Kirill, and then always, always, I love his style of teaching because he never forced me. Sometimes some teachers say, oh you have to play this and this style or this technique or this form of body. But, you know, we are all different, and all different senses we have. But Kirill, he just gives me a space of opportunities of the interpretations, and he has so many various prospective ways to suggestions. So, yeah, I'm very, very happy to be working with him. And always he notices something that I didn't notice. So that's very nice for me. And yeah, I'm still going to his place in his apartment or the university, Hanns-Eisler Berlin. We are trying because, yeah, he's very, very busy. He's the busiest pianist last year, and I'm a bit busy, so yes, we're finding the way.
Brian McCreath I'm sure lining up your schedules is probably the biggest challenge of the entire thing, but what a creative person, and what great ears, what an amazing artist he is. So I'm so happy to hear that you're working with him, because I love talking with Kirill, I love hearing Kirill when he's here in Boston, so I'm glad to hear that.
You did a recording recently of Preludes by Chopin, Scriabin, and Akio Yashiro. I was fascinated by Yashiro's Preludes. They're so beautiful. And then I read the story of them, when he was, what was he, 15 when he wrote them. And so, I just wonder if you can tell me a little more about discovering his music. And I understand from your notes on that recording that you met with his widow to understand more about him and where he came from. Describe Yashiro's music and why you chose to put that with your recording of Scriabin and Chopin.
Mao Fujita Yashiro is one of the biggest composers in Japan. He's a very famous composer, but unfortunately, he passed away at the age of 46, quite early. But we have several of his pieces, and he wrote piano concertos, a wonderful cello concerto. And so many pieces. Also, there's a piano sonata. But when he wrote these 24 Preludes, he escaped to some countryside of Japan, because when he wrote these 24 Preludes, in 1945, during World War II, and Tokyo was very dangerous place in that time, so he escaped. Also, he studied the French education. So that's why most of his pieces, his works, include the French atmosphere, French smells, yes, kind of that. And also, his favorite composer was Mussorgsky. It's very interesting, right? But in these 24 Preludes, some of the preludes are completely inspired by Mussorgsky and the harmony and the rhythm and everything, yes, he took from the Mussorgsky. Also his favorite composer is Chopin, so there's a beautiful melody with some Japanese atmosphere, the harmony, the chords, everything, and also the scale. It's a very special scale. He used this special one in these preludes. But I'm very, very lucky to meet with his widow. And we had a wonderful time together in her apartment and her favorite restaurant in Tokyo. And we discussed a lot how he was and the personality. It's very, very fascinating that he's a very, you know, the perfect[ionist] person, perfect, yes. So everything to be perfect. And when he starts composing some work, he closed everything, the window and the curtain and doors, and there's no sunshine in his room, so that he can just concentrate, and he doesn't care what time is now, or whether it's the night, or morning, doesn't care, just concentrate on the music. And, yeah, she mentioned the one week he wrote the first four bars of the piece. Then the next week he said, "oh, this first four bar, oh no, delete this note and add this note, no delete." Then, the second week later... Yeah, maybe put more notes here in the same four bars. Then one week later, delete everything. Then again, from the beginning, it's so perfect person so that we can recognize that everything in his pieces has to play,they're very important and so delicate, because he composed like that and every note has meaning.
Brian McCreath Fascinating, that's great. And for those of us who maybe don't know the music well, I love that in your notes you say that if Chopin and Scriabin are the fish and the rice, then he is the wasabi.
Mao Fujita Wasabi, yes, yes, yes... Yeah, it's some spicy accent.
Brian McCreath But there's so much variety. Among those 24 Preludes, there's so many different sounds that he makes. And so to hear that he was 15 in the middle of the worst time in Japan's recent history in World War II, to compose these beautiful gems is really, really extraordinary. So I'm so glad that you included those in your recording.
Mao Fujita Oh yes, great pleasure to hear this.
Brian McCreath Well, Mao Fujita, it's so wonderful to meet you. It's so great to hear you with the Boston Symphony and I'm very much looking forward to the concert. Thank you for your time today. I appreciate it.
Mao Fujita Thank you very much, I appreciate it.