Nobuyuki Tsujii

Blind from birth owing to eye deformations, pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii became the first Japanese artist to sign with Deutsche Grammophon. In 2009 he earned a gold medal at the Van Cliburn Competition while also establishing himself as a composer of both concert works and film scores. After recording for several other labels, he issued his Deutsche Grammophon debut in 2024—a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 (“Hammerklavier”).

Born in Tokyo on September 13, 1986, and often called Nobu, Tsujii astonished his family at age two by locating the notes do, re, and mi on a toy piano. Formal instruction began at four. At seven he captured first prize in an all-Japan contest for blind young musicians organized by the Tokyo Helen Keller Association. Ten-year-old Tsujii made his orchestral debut with the Century Orchestra Osaka, then returned to Tokyo’s Suntory Hall for a solo recital at twelve. International tours soon followed through the United States, France, and Russia. In 2005 he reached the semifinals of the 15th International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw; selected performances appeared on the event’s boxed-set release that year. Two years later he recorded Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester-Berlin led by conductor Yutaka Sado. At the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, Tsujii shared the top prize with Haochen Zhang, and Harmonia Mundi later released many of those performances.

He completed piano studies at Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo and graduated in 2011. That same year he appeared for the first time in the principal Isaac Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall. In 2013 he performed at the BBC Proms alongside the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Because Braille scores lack the breadth required for a touring professional, Tsujii learns new repertoire by ear: a team of pianists prepares recordings that also convey the composer’s specific performance directives. Onstage he navigates concertos by following the conductor’s breathing and the surrounding instrumental texture; conductor Domingo Hindoyan has observed that he makes no special adjustments when collaborating with Tsujii. As a composer himself, Tsujii unveiled his Street Corner of Vienna at age twelve and has since released multiple albums of original music. He has issued more than twenty recordings on Japan’s Avex Classics label. Deutsche Grammophon welcomed him with the 2024 album Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 “Hammerklavier”; An die ferne Geliebte.