Nobuyuki Tsujii: Pianist and Composer

Nobuyuki Tsujii (辻井 伸行) (born in 1988) is a Japanese pianist and composer. Born blind, he has become an extraordinary musician. Among his remarkable achievements:

• He reached the semifinal and received the Critics’ Award at the 2005 International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland.

• He tied for the gold medal at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Nobuyuki Tsujii has performed with numerous conductors (and orchestras) worldwide, including: Vladimir Ashkenazy (Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin), and Valery Gergiev (Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Orchestra Teatro alla Scala, and Munich Philharmonic).

In addition to being a superb pianist, Nobuyuki Tsujii is a composer. At age 12, he performed his own composition Street Corner of Vienna. He has since released numerous albums of his own works. In 2011, he received the Japan Film Critics Award for Film Music Artist. His Elegy for the Victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami is a moving piano-piece memorializing the victims of Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

He has performed in numerous charity concerts on behalf of those victims, including a UNESCO concert held in Paris in 2012. And he donates some of the proceeds from his 2012 Flowers Bloom CD to Japan's earthquake reconstruction effort.

Van Cliburn told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "He [Nobuyuji Tsujii] was absolutely miraculous. His performance had the power of a healing service. It was truly divine."

In the 2010 documentary A Surprise in Texas, the eminent pianist Menahem Pressler says: "I have the utmost admiration for [Nobuyuji Tsujii]. God has taken his eyes, but given him the physical endowment and mental endowment to encompass the greatest works of piano. For him to play the Chopin concerto with such sweetness, gentleness and sincerity -- it's deeply touching. I had to keep from crying when I left the room."