Roots and Resonances

Multi-percussionist Haruka Fujii has become one of the most prominent solo percussionists and marimbists of her generation. She has won international acclaim for her interpretations of contemporary music, having performed numerous premieres of works from luminary composers. Since 2010, Ms. Fujii has performed as an artist of the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble, joining a group of international musicians founded by Yo-Yo Ma and now serves as the Associate Artistic Director alongside with the Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens. Ms. Fujii’s passion for introducing audiences to new percussion music has put her on stage with diverse orchestras and ensembles. She has appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Nationale de Lyon, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of San Francisco Contemporary Players and the New York based Line C3 Percussion Group, also Utari Percussion Duo, a duet project with her sister Rika which actively commissions new compositions from young composers. Her world premiere recordings can be found on the SONY, Kosei, ALM Records, and Deutsche Grammophon labels. In addition to her career as a performing artist, Ms. Fujii has recently joined the percussion faculty of San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has been a frequent guest instructor at Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar and several international percussion festivals. She is also a founder and creative director of a nonprofit organization Nippon Kobo, a new cultural event series introducing art+music+food from contemporary Japan. Born in Saitama, Japan, Ms. Fujii began her musical studies on the piano at the age of three. Influenced by her mother, noted marimbist Mutsuko Fujii, she developed interest in percussion instruments. She studied music at the Tokyo National University, the Juilliard School, and the Mannes College of Music.