Interview: Dai Fujikura [Ricordi Munich]'s Ice Premieres with ICE
(May 2010)On April 27 much of the New York new music scene gathered at Le Poisson Rouge to hear the International Contemporary Ensemble (“ICE”) give another virtuosic performance in a series of many over their nearly ten year history. The eclectic bill concluded with Ice by Dai Fujikura [Ricordi Munich] —a young composer with a long collaborative history with ICE.
First gaining international recognition in the 1990s by winning a number of large-scale competitions (including those from Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and the Royal Philharmonic Society), Fujikura has quickly established himself as a vital voice in the contemporary music world.
Recently he sat down with Boosey & Hawkes to tell us about his musical past, present, and future with ICE and beyond:
Did you play any instruments growing up?
I played piano and one year of violin (which I nearly smashed, as I hated myself making [that] horrible sound).
Where and when were you born?
In Osaka, Japan in 1977. When I was 15 years old, I moved to England to study at Trinity College of Music and then the Royal College of Music.
How does this background influence your music?
I try to delete the sign of "Japanese-ness" in my own work. I am interested in any culture out there that catches my attention [during] certain times of my life. But if anyone detects this from my music, then I am maybe a little more Japanese than I may wish. For example, in the last section of Ice, which is solo bass flute music, I tried my best not to sound like Shakuhachi.
When did you first meet/start working with ICE?
2003
What was the first piece you wrote for them?
I first wrote a little piece called breathless for toy piano and pizzicato violin. ICE was the first ensemble piece I wrote for the group.
How did the piece "Ice" come about?
I was thinking about each member of ICE, whom I adore as people as well as musicians, and I did a lot of experimenting with the guitarist and percussionist, who strongly asked for me not to write for orchestral instruments. That request interested me, as I have never really explored the percussion instruments I used in this work (like marbles in the bowls, kalimba solo, sea-shells chimes, water-drum....etc.)
When did you start composing the work?
December 1st, though I started experimenting with ICE members via skype video chat months before. [When] I was in Norway attending the world premiere for my horn
concerto [in December], outside it was so cold that I stayed in my hotel room and decided
to start this piece.
Do you write most of your music for specific musicians?
Usually people I know commission me, but if I don't know [a commissioner] I will try to know them before I start the work, as I believe that wonderful musicians can inspire composers.
What's next for you? What other ensembles do you work with?
First, I’m writing a recorder concerto for Jeremias Schwarzer, then an orchestral piece. [Other ensembles I work with are] Ensemble Intercontemporain, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, ensemble Recherche, ASKO/Schoenberg ensemble, Niewu Ensemble......and many more.
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