Dai Fujikura

Dai Fujikura is a London-based composer who was born in Osaka in 1977. He moved to the UK at fifteen and studied under Sir George Benjamin.

In 2020 Fujikura’s opera “A Dream of Armageddon”, based on H.G. Wells’ story of the same name, premiered at the New National Theatre, Tokyo and was widely acclaimed. That same year his Fourth Piano Concerto “Akiko’s Piano” commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and was released by Sony Music. His work “Entwine” has been performed by orchestras including the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the New York Philharmonic. “Wavering World” was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony and performed by other notable orchestras around the globe. His music theatre piece “Metamorphosis of a Living Room”, in collaboration with theatre director Toshiki Okada, has been staged in several cities and premiered in Japan in 2024.

Fujikura has presented three operas: “SOLARIS” (2015), co-commissioned by several European opera houses; “The Gold-Bug” (2018), commissioned by Theater Basel; and “A Dream of Armageddon” commissioned by the New National Theatre, Tokyo (2020). His collaborations span various genres, working with artists like Ryūichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian. For the film “Mitsubachi to Enrai” (Listen to the Universe), he composed “Spring and Asura”.

Fujikura has composed for traditional Japanese instruments as well as European period instruments. Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Born Creative festival at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. He also curated concerts at La Folle Journée de Japon in 2016 and 2019.

His music has been recorded on labels such as NMC, Kairos, Sony Music and Fujikura’s own record label Minabel Records. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Ivor Novello Award and the Silver Lion from the Venice Biennale. His works are published by Ricordi Berlin.