was a Japanese-German pianist, a revelation in her country in the late 1990s. She was well known in classical music through both CD recordings and public performances, particularly for her interpretations of piano concertos in disguise and transcriptions of well-known masterpieces for chamber ensemble.

Biography

She began studying piano in her native

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

before the age of four, and when she was six, her family moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She studied in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

and

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. Although born Japanese and well-versed in Japanese culture, she described herself as European and considered Germany her homeland. In her training, she studied piano with Detlef Kraus (

Folkwang Hochschule The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in ...

), Friedrich Wilhelm Schnurr (Hochschule für Musik Detmold) and Vladimir Krainev (

Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

) graduating in 1995 with the highest honors. She achieved the highest distinction in her soloist examinations. Additional training came from international masterclasses with

Nikita Magaloff Nikita Magaloff (; 26 December 1992) was a Georgia (country), Georgian-Russian pianist. He was born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian noble family named Maghalashvili. Magaloff and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland. His musical interes ...

Yara Bernette Bernette Epstein, known as Yara Bernette (March 14, 1920 – March 31, 2002), was a Brazilian classical pianist. Considered one of Brazil's foremost pianists of the twentieth century, she achieved international renown for her performance of C ...

, Jeremy Menuhin,

Paul Badura-Skoda Paul Badura-Skoda (6 October 1927 – 25 September 2019) was an Austrian pianist. Career A student of Edwin Fischer, Badura-Skoda first rose to prominence by winning first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he performed w ...

and

Edith Picht-Axenfeld Edith Picht-Axenfeld (1 January 1914 in Freiburg im Breisgau – 19 April 2001 in Hinterzarten) was a German pianist and harpsichordist. Career She started her concert career in 1935, and took part two years later in the III International Chopin ...

and from the Polish pedagogue Malgorzata Botor-Schreiber. Fumiko Shiraga performed as a solo artist and with orchestras, as well as with chamber music ensembles. She was instrumental in reviving transcriptions (for flute, violin, violoncello and piano), by

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...

, of some

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

piano concertos. She recorded the two

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Concertos by Chopin in a piano and string quintet transcription (1997) and then, in 2001 and in a similar arrangement, she recorded

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's First and Second piano concertos, as well as piano music by

Bruckner Joseph Anton Bruckner (; ; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer and organist best known for his symphonies and sacred music, which includes Masses, Te Deum and motets. The symphonies are considered emblematic of the final ...

, including a piano arrangement of his seventh

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

. For the last twenty years, she lived in Hamburg, where she died of breast cancer after a long battle with the disease in January 2017, just about four weeks after her last concert.

Awards and distinctions

Several first prizes at the Young Musician’s Competition, the special prize at the International Schubert Competition in Dortmund in 1989; a scholarship from the Stendal Music Foundation In 1992, a prize (1993) at the International Chopin Competition in Göttingen, a new scholarship (1995) from

Deutscher Musikrat The (DMR, ''German Music Council''; ) is an umbrella organization for music associations and the 16 music councils of the German federal states.musikrat.deÜberblick über Organisationsstruktur des DMR(retrieved on 10 May 2019) It represents over ...

(German Music Council, a member of the

International Music Council The International Music Council (IMC) was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. The original request of the foundation of the IMC was under the Director of the UNESCO. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, ...

) in Bonn and acceptance into the 40th National Selection of "Concerts by Young Artists" (1996). Her CD featuring Mozart's Piano Concertos 22 and 26 was selected as Editor's Choice in January 2006. In the same year, her final CD in the Mozart-Hummel series, which included Piano Concerto No. 18 and the 40th Symphony was selected as CD of the Month by Piano News.

Discography

* Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Chamber version) *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano *: Orchestra/Ensemble: The Bremen String Soloists * Bruckner: Piano Works *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano * Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, Chamber version *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano *: Jan-Inge Haukås - double bass *: Orchestra/Ensemble: Yggdrasil Quartet * Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos Op.25 & Op.40, Six songs without words (Chamber version) *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano *: Orchestra/Ensemble: Nathan Quartett * Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 10 and 24 (arr. Hummel for chamber ensemble) *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano *: Henrik Wiese - flute *: Peter Clemente - violin *: Tibor Bényi - cello * Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 25 (arr. Hummel for chamber ensemble) *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano *: Henrik Wiese - flute *: Peter Clemente - violin *: Tibor Bényi - cello * Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 18 / Symphony No. 40 (arr. Hummel for chamber ensemble) *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano *: Henrik Wiese - flute *: Peter Clemente - violin *: Tibor Bényi - cello * Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 26 and 22 (arr. Hummel for chamber ensemble) *: Fumiko Shiraga - piano *: Henrik Wiese - flute *: Peter Clemente - violin *: Tibor Bényi - cello

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiraga, Fumiko 1967 births 2017 deaths Musicians from Tokyo Japanese classical pianists Japanese women pianists Women classical pianists German classical pianists German women pianists German people of Japanese descent Japanese emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover alumni Deaths from breast cancer in Germany