Kotaro Fukuma, Piano: Flagship Series

Name: Kotaro Fukuma, Piano: Flagship Series
Start: 2026-10-27T19:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-10-27T21:00:00-07:00
Location: Community School of Music and Arts – Tateuchi Hall

Oct 27 2026, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

$30 – $45

Community School of Music and Arts – Tateuchi Hall

230 San Antonio Circle
Mountain View, CA 94040 United States
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Arts from Japan presents “Shimmering Water,” a recital by acclaimed pianist Kotaro Fukuma at the Community School of Music and Art in Mountain View. On October 27, 2026, at 7pm, Fukuma traces water’s shimmer and surge across two centuries of piano repertoire, from Mendelssohn’s Gondellied and Debussy’s Cathédrale engloutie to his own transcriptions of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Smetana’s The Moldau. The program also features Toru Takemitsu’s meditative Rain Tree Sketches. A First Prize winner at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Fukuma brings virtuosity and depth to this rare Bay Area appearance.

Date and Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 7:00 PM

Venue: Community School of Music and Arts, Tateuchi Hall | 230 San Antonio Circle, Mountain View, CA. 94040

Tickets:
Non-members $45
Members $30*

*A discount code has been shared with members via email. If you’d like to become a member, click here. If you’re not sure you’re a member, contact jsnc@usajapan.org.

Program:
Mendelssohn: Gondellied (Gondolier’s Song) in A major, MWV U 136

Bizet: Chants du Rhin (Songs of the Rhine)
1. L’Aurore (Dawn)
2. Le Départ (The Departure)
3. Les Rêves (Dreams)
4. La Bohémienne (The Bohemian Girl)
5. Les Confidences (Confidences)
6. Le Retour (The Return)

Debussy:
1. La Cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral)
2. Clair de lune (Moonlight)
3. L’Isle joyeuse (The Island of Joy)

— Intermission —

Wagner: from Tristan und Isolde
1. Vorspiel (Prelude) (Transcription by Fukuma)
2. Isoldes Liebestod (Isolde’s Love-Death) (Transcription by Liszt)

Tôru Takemitsu (1930 – 1996):
1. Rain Tree Sketch (1982)
2. Rain Tree Sketch II — In Memory of Olivier Messiaen (1992)

Smetana: The Moldau (Transcription by Fukuma)

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Born in Tokyo, Kotaro Fukuma began piano at age five and, in 2003 at twenty, won First Prize and the Chopin Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition. His career spans 35 countries, with performances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony under conductors including Frühbeck de Burgos and Kazuki Yamada. A champion of contemporary music, he has premiered works by Takemitsu and Rautavaara and released 21 recordings on Naxos and other labels. Trained in Paris and Berlin, Fukuma lives between Berlin, Leiden, and Tokyo.