For the second time Dai Fujikura receives the Otaka Prize, an award founded by the NHK Symphony Orchestra. The prize is awarded annually to a Japanese composer for an outstanding orchestral work. Past winners include Toshio Hosokawa, Maki Ishii and Toru Takemitsu.

Rare Gravity was commissioned and world premiered by Orchestre de la Suisse Romande on July 8th, 2014. Since then, it was performed in Czech Republic, Germany, Japan and Switzerland by Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Czech Philharmonic and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. All concerts were conducted by Kazuki Yamada.

Dai Fujikura describes Rare Gravity as follows:

“My daughter was born two years ago. Since then I have written several pieces that were inspired by her. Rare Gravity is about how an embryo is growing inside the womb of her mother. The embryo is floating in a very peaceful way, and the water around it is protecting the unborn child. All of this is reflected in the music. I am hoping that the audience gets this impression of being surrounded by water and that they feel this wonderful state of levitation.”



The next performance of Rare Gravity is scheduled for June 23, 2015, at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. The concert with Pascal Rophé and NHK Symphony Orchestra will also feature the Japanese premiere of Dai Fujikura’s Infinite String, a work for strings co-commissioned by New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Ensemble Resonanz.