Called “brazen, powerful, polished, blazing, and high-octane,” Japanese-born Kotaro Fukuma is one of today’s greatest young pianists. He’s headlined at major concert halls around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Thus, it’s a real cultural coup for the Hudson Valley that Fukuma is performing on July 20 in the Evelyn Weisberg Hall at the Catskill Mountain Foundation’s Doctorow Center for the Arts in Hunter, New York.
Now based in Berlin and Paris, Fukuma started learning piano at the age of five; went on to study with such masters as Leon Fleisher, Mitsuko Uchida, and Richard Goode; and has obtained many high awards in international competitions. Passionate about contemporary music, Kotaro has performed world and national premieres of works by Toru Takemitsu, Mutsuo Shishido, Renaud Gagneux, Thierry Escaich, and others.
Here, the young genius waxes sublimely on Chopin’s fourth piano ballade:
The July 20 program includes Mozart’s Fantasie kv. 397, Brahm’s Sonata No. 3, Debussy’s Estampes, and Albeniz’s Iberia Book 3. The concert starts at 2pm. Tickets are $23; $18 seniors; $7 students in advance and $27; $21 seniors; $7 students at the door. For details, visit Catskillmtn.org or call (518) 263-2066.
