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Continued from Notable web postings -- November 2020
More archival of past postings can be found at Notable web postings archive
Nov 25 - Dec 16 CHOPIN recital tour (Japan)
Premium Recitals resumes with PERFORMANCE 6 -- December 21 19:00 Itzumi Hall, Osaka
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POSTS
POSTS
🤔If not for COVIDー19, 2020 would have been another bumper-crop year for Nobuyuki Tsujii 辻井伸行.
A look back at what was lost and what was accomplished; and onward to the hope of spring💐 here: Still we are alive -- Come, 2021!
December 29 Nobuyuki Tsujii official news: A new CM (commercial) piece 'For Tomorrow', composed for the Japan Racing Association JRA（日本中央競馬会),will start airing Jan 7 in Japan. A clip of the ad should be viewable at https://jra.jp/gallery/ads/ in due time.
December 27
Mr. Massahiro Kawakami updated his blog after a long while. https://www.masahiro-kawakami.com/archives/3771
He mentions that Nobuyuki Tsujii contacted him and spoke of a scene in the just-aired BSFuji show where Nobu spontaneously plays Kapustin on an upright piano. (I will try to share that scene when I have time.) Rest of the post is about his concern for classical music performers post-#COVIDー19. (Mr. K is Nobu's childhood piano teacher and a professor at a Tokyo music conservatory.)
December 24
Instagram from Mrs. Itsuko Tsujii "Christmas at home. Homemade food -- cheers!" How lucky is Nobuyuki Tsujii to have such a wonderful mother! (The accompanying photos show quite a spread of mouth-watering Western-style food, beautifully presented as always.)
Dec 25 Announced today: A new performance of the popular "The Pianist" series, featuring 辻井伸行 Nobuyuki Tsujii with 加古隆 Takashi Kako & レ・フレール Les Freres [The brothers]. April 3 at Bunkamura. More at 2021 "The Pianist" Special
Dec 24/25 Christmas Eve/ Christmas Day
Dec 24/25 Christmas Eve/ Christmas Day
Peace & good health to all!
A video of Nobuyuki Tsujii playing a Japanese standard for 'Christmas Eve", which was yesterday in Japan. It is already Christmas Day over there. Today Nobu wraps up his Beethoven tour in majestic Harmony Hall, Matsumto - please see All-Beethoven Premium Recitals
December 24 A video from Japan, with footage extracted from a 2018 TV documentary about Nobuyuki Tsujii's Iceland debut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hTJ5PmfCOM
It's poignant to see it, now that Mo. Vladimir Ashkenazy has retired. He is missed, & we wish him the best.This footage can be viewed in another video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJenlTMXuvg -- with English description.
December 23 A new page posted by Fuji-TV about the Dec 26 Nobuyuki Tsujii special reveals the pieces performed for the program: Mozart's Turkish March & Nobu's own compositions including Cortona Morning', a new impromptu & 'Still we Live'... More at 2021 Nobuyuki Tsujii Fuji TV Travel Series
December 21 Verbier Festival very kindly replied to my inquiry promptly - how kind, and what good news :-) to brighten these dark days - MERCI BEAUCOUP and Happy New Year! "Hello! Yes, he is indeed invited. The official line-up of the Festival will be announced to the public on 28 January! Visit http://verbierfestival.com then!"
More at "Artistes invités au Verbier Festival 2021: Nobuyuki Tsujii!"
Monday December 21 Nobuyuki Tsujii resumes his acclaimed all-Beethoven premium recitals in Japan. There are 3 shows, starting today at 19:00 in Itzumi Hall (住友生命いずみホール) (821 seats), Osaka. More at Nobuyuki Tsujii 2020 All-Beethoven Premium Recital
December 20 Has Nobuyuki Tsujii been invited to Verbier Festivall 2021 ⁉️ His name appears on the "Artists Invited" list in French https://www.verbierfestival.com/musiciens/ but not in English https://www.verbierfestival.com/en/musicians/. It has pained me for a long time that Nobu has never appeared in this prestigious festival. So I hope he finally gets the invitation that he so deserves. More at https://mlliu2006.blogspot.com/2020/12/artistes-invites-au-verbier-festival.html
December 19 A great photo posted on Twitter https://twitter.com/hime08699354/status/1340444835627429891 "Mt. Fuji illuminated by moonlight. Piano Sonata No. 14 played by Nobuyuki Tsujii seems to be heard. Fantastic."
Listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paPmImu5CDs
December 18 A NEW Nobuyuki Tsujii 5-minute interview posted on YouTube -- in Japanese, although you can read the questions in English. Something about dreams and hopes. Nobu is neatly dressed in a grey suit jacket over black shirt. Watch it here www.youtube.com/watch?v=piJeMZt-XBY
December 17 Enjoy 56 high-resolution stock photos byGetty Images, at https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/nobuyuki-tsujii, such as this one titled "Japanese Legends Sayonara National Stadium."
December 16 CONGRATULATIONS TO Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii for successfully delivering joy & Chopin to his fans in a trying time #COVID -- his sold-out tour ended in Shiga last night Dec 16. 4 encores ending with Nocturne No 8 -- I'd travel to Japan just to hear that! To see what encores were played, please visit CHOPIN recital tour (Japan) Image source: tweet by Oyashiku-san.
December 16 BS-Asahi TV has updated the official page for the "Miracle Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii" special New Year program, with a new cover photo. "For the day when we can meet with a smile ～From 7:00 to 8:54 on January 1, 2021 (Friday). In 2020, when the corona pandemic struck, 60 performances of Mr. Tsujii, scheduled in Japan and overseas, were postponed or canceled. However, he never let go of the piano ... For 22 years, we have closely interviewed Tsujii, who is now a world-class pianist. A 2-hour special program that shows off treasured images and famous works that he considers the best! "
December 15 Blog post by Music writer 伊熊よし子 Yoshiko Ikuma
[Translated]Recently, even if I went to a concert, I couldn't visitthe dressing room after the performance to meet the artist, so I hadn't seen Nobuyuki Tsujii for a long time.
Yesterday, I was an interviewer for a video recording for a closed concert in early 2021, so I was able to meet and talk to him for the first time in a while.
Mr. Tsujii said that he takes careful measures to protect himself against the corona virus and thought about "what he can do now".
He renewed his mission to deliver music to everyone, managed to maintain his motivation, and is working hard to practice.
"I'm jumping rope because I'm lacking in exercise," he said with a cute smile.
Mr. Tsujii is planning to tour Japan from January 31st to March 19th, 2021, and there are 19 performances in total.
This time, the works of two "Romantic" composers, Schumann and Liszt, were included in the program, and he said he was looking forward to playing "Traumerei" [by Schumann], which he has been familiar with since he was a child.
To tell the truth, this interview was made in a rush immediately after recording the video, so I completely forgot to take a picture after the interview. Today's photo is from a previous interview.
Dec 14 Yahoo Japan news [translated]
"Nobuyuki Tsujii, Tatsuro Yamashita 'Christmas Eve' released -- Enchanted by the beautiful piano tone
World- famous pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii is receiving a lot of attention by playing Tatsuro Yamashita 's "Christmas Eve" on his official YouTube, for Christmas .
Launched December 11, the video has already received over 100,000 views. [It is approaching 200K views by now.]
The COVID pandemic has caused Mr. Tsujii to postpone or cancel many concerts he had planned in Japan. He thought deeply about what he could do. He actively held online concerts, saying, "I still want to believe in the power of music," and he launched his official YouTube channel for the first time. In addition to classical music, he also plays standard [Japanes] songs such as Yumi Matsutoya 's 'May Spring come', which has been viewed more than 2 million times. Tsujii commented, 'I play with all my thoughts so that everyone could have a wonderful.'"
In the video, Nobu is playing in a studio that looks familiar. His hair is longish, and is wearing a Christmas sweater over a long-sleeve shirt. Play it here www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh5cTCrqJvE
December 13 As year 2020 draws to a close amid a pandemic that reminds everyone just how fleeting things are, this is a nice little vignette about how Nobuyuki Tsujii's performances make a lasting impression. In this case, it's a little-known performance in 2011, when Nobu performed with an orchestra in Cannes, France. ""Nobuyuki Tsujii n’est pas seulement un pianiste, pas seulement un artiste, il est aussi un magicien qui sublime les notes de musique." Read it here: Nobuyuki Tsujii's in Cannes 2011
December 12
More on the BS-Fuji Dec 26 Nobuyuki Tsujii Travel Series episode
In addition to a compendium of footage from past journeys, a number of pieces will be presented from a concert hall without an audience, including an original song of his impression of his world travels so far. "Mr. Tsujii prepared a total of eight songs just for this program. " More at 2021 Nobuyuki Tsujii Fuji TV Travel Series.
By the way, I checked, and it seems the year-end Nobu special TV shows can still be viewed on-demand via JapanNetTV
December 12
More on the BS-Fuji Dec 26 Nobuyuki Tsujii Travel Series episode
In addition to a compendium of footage from past journeys, a number of pieces will be presented from a concert hall without an audience, including an original song of his impression of his world travels so far. "Mr. Tsujii prepared a total of eight songs just for this program. " More at 2021 Nobuyuki Tsujii Fuji TV Travel Series.
By the way, I checked, and it seems the year-end Nobu special TV shows can still be viewed on-demand via JapanNetTV
Dec 11 Freshly upoaded to Nobu's official YouTube channel: a video Nobu playing a solo rendition of 'Christmas Eve' by Japan's singer/composer Tatsuro Yamashita, considered of the standard Japanese Christmas songs. "We played with all our thoughts so that we could all have a wonderful Christmas." In the video, Nobu is playing in a studio that looks familiar. His hair is longish, and he may be wearing a Christmas sweater over a long-sleeve shirt :-) Play it here www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh5cTCrqJvE
December 11 "Touching the Sound", the 辻井伸行 Nobuyuki Tsujii documentary by Peter Rosen @rosenprod , can now be watched online for 5 USD, or purchased for 10 USD. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/touchingthesound
Story at https://mlliu2006.blogspot.com/2020/04/coming-to-pbs-in-may-2020-nobuyuki.html
Dec 11 Posted today on the Nobuyuki Tsujii official website -- What's New? https://avex.jp/tsujii/
All-Beethoven Premium Recitals & Chopin recitals: EVERY show (October - December) has SOLD OUT, #COVID notwithstanding. Nobu power!
December 10 BS-Fuji travel series airing on Dec 26
The popularity of Nobuyuki Tsujii in Japan is such that his fans get to watch TWO annual TV specials around New Year Day [the most celebrated holiday in Japan]. In addition to the "Miracle Pianist" show airing on Jan 1 on Asahi-TV, it has just came up that there is a special episode of "Nobuyuki Tsujii travel series" airing on Dec 26 on BS-Fuji (Fuji TV premium). In the past, both shows can be watched online legitimately via a modest fee. I am checking.
December 7 An archival review, dating from back in January when Nobuyuki Tsujii made his debut in Norway, somehow showed up today on my Nobu news search. Titled "Blind or sighted: This was great", with a byline that reads "Beethoven asked: Is life worth living? This week, the blind Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii answered a resounding 'yes' on behalf of the composer." Nobu made his Norway debut in January, just before the #COVID outbreak. The Oslo Phil very kindly posted an image of the review, and I managed to make a translation, readable here: Norwegian Vårt Land review Jan 2020.
December 5 Congratulations to Japan for the successful mission of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which has delivered to earth a capsule containing pristine asteroid fragments gathered from space that may unlock secrets about the formation of the universe! Here is theme music written by Nobuyuki Tsujii for the 2010 film "Return of the Hayabusa." -- a favorite of mine of Nobu's compositions. An orchestral rendition can be heard on the film's trailer, at the end.
December 4 Bravos to Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
for providing online viewing of their just-resumed live performances, at a modest cost & available worldwide!!
Here is hoping to be able to watch their performances of Nobuyuki Tsujii (whenever it is rescheduled from 2020).
December 4
https://twitter.com/icoyuraco/status/1335096556320538624 Posted by Twitter Yura: Clip of Nobuyuki Tsujii's silky playing of Schubert's Op 90 Impromptu no. 3, at an online concert held in Japan back in June. We'd be seeing him play it in Carnegie Hall next week (Dec 8) had #COVID been under control in the U.S. Inspired by this performance, I've been practicing this piece for months. Nobu makes it look easy but -- trust me -- it is really difficult to play.
December 4 Twitter @happy_crover318 shared this happy post. "Nostalgic article 'A Gift from his Grandfather' ", with photo of Nobuyuki Tsujii & his grandfather Nobutaka Tsujii, seated behind an old-fashioned vinyl-record player, presumably the gift. "Nice family." It's the first time I saw a photo of Nobu with his grandfather. https://twitter.com/.../status/1334941754034831360/photo/1
Dec 3 Avex Classics announces CD "The Japan Tours Nobuyuki Tsujii". 10 tracks from works performed over a decade on Japan tours. Available from Dec 9 in some stores & at concert venues in Japan. Included is one new track, from Bach's Italian Concerto. More at "The Japan Tours Nobuyuki Tsujii" CD.
December 1 This classroom teaching unit "The Power of Music" www.assemblies.org.uk/sec/3655/the-power-of-music, posted on a British website, includes a video of Nobuyuki Tsujii's"Elegy for Tsunami Victims" as materials for student discussion. "Point out that music has the power to paint pictures in our minds. Explain that the next piece of music was composed by a young, blind pianist as a tribute to those killed in the tsunami in Japan in 2011.... Ask the students whether they felt that the piece of music was effective in expressing the sadness of the disaster."
December 1 https://www.nikkan-gendai.com/articles/view/news/282001 This article, about Japan's former PM Shinzo Abe under inquiry for alleged abusing of public fund to host cherry parties, comes with a group photo. A twitter thought it's sad to see Nobu in the photo. I remember that photo well. It was 2017 and Nobu -- looking rather uncomfortable in sports jacket and slacks -- was at the event with mother Itsuko in full kimono. They were invited guests. It doesn't make him guilty by association!
November 30
Posted by t he Tsujii OBGYN Clinic in Yokohama: "A CD of pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii will be given to those who have made an appointment for delivery. Please listen to it with the baby in your womb." The clinic is run by the father of Nobu 辻井伸行. Kindness runs in the family.
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