Japan-based projects by KAJIMOTO to foster young creators. In 2025-2026, we, in collaboration with the Lucerne Festival and the Scottish Opera, have unfolded unique programs centered on the composer Dai Fujikura's works, plunging into the world's creative forefront. The projects have provided us with real drama of young creators going across the seas. This movement, or WAVE, will reach out to the world.

Dai Fujikura is a London-based composer that was born in Osaka, Japan in 1977. He moved to the UK at fifteen and studied under Sir George Benjamin. In 2020, Fujikura's opera "A Dream of Armageddon," based on H.G. Wells' story of the same name, premiered at the New National Theatre Tokyo and was widely acclaimed. That same year, his Fourth Piano Concerto, "Akiko's Piano," commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and was released by Sony Music. His work "Entwine" has been performed by orchestras including the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and the New York Philharmonic. His orchestral work "Wavering World" was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony and performed by other notable orchestras around the globe. His music theatre piece "Metamorphosis of a Living Room," in collaboration with theatre director Toshiki Okada, has been staged in several cities and is set to premiere in Japan in 2024. Fujikura has presented three operas: "SOLARIS" (2015), co-commissioned by several European opera houses; "The Gold-Bug" (2018), commissioned by Theatre Basel; and "A Dream of Armageddon" commissioned by New National Theatre Tokyo (2020). His collaborations span various genres, working with artists like Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian. For the film "Mitsubachi to Enrai" (LISTEN TO THE UNIVERSE), he composed "Spring and Asura." Fujikura has composed for traditional Japanese instruments as well as European period instruments. Since 2017 he has been the Artistic Director of the Born Creative Festival at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. He also curated concerts at La Folle Journée au Japon in 2016 and 2019. His music has been recorded on labels such as NMC, Kairos, Sony Music, and Fujikura’s own record label, Minabel Records. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Ivor Novello Award and the Silver Lion from the Venice Biennale. His works are published by Ricordi Berlin.
Official website：http://www.daifujikura.com

Born in Chiba, Japan. After graduating from the Department of Composition at Tokyo University of the Arts, he studied composition at the conservatory and conducting at the municipal school in Milan, Italy and studied also at Musikhochschule in Munich, Germany. He studied composition under Akio Yasuraoka, Ichiro Nodaira, Gabriele Manca and Isabel Mundry and conducting under Yoichi Sugiyama. As conductor, he has been involved in premieres of new works in Japan, Italy, Belgium, and many other places. He was assistant to Matthias Pincher at the 2021 Suntory Hall Summer Festival. In June 2024, he conducted Martinu's Concertino for piano trio and string orchestra at Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden. He followed the masterclass of Divertimento Ensemble (Milan), the MDI Ensemble (Milan), Jorma Panula (Poland), John Axelrod (Romania) and Gregory Vajda (Hungary). As composer, in 2016 he got the composition prize "Hasegawa Yoshio" with his orchestra piece “Expantraction” and it was performed by Geidai Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2018 in Venice, Ex Novo Ensemble performed his piece for 3 instruments "... continui scolorati nascosti", and many pieces are performed in the world.
Official website：https://sites.google.com/view/yuki-urabe/

Born in Tokyo in 1997, Kento Ishikawa completed his studies in composition at Tokyo University of the Arts, earning both his bachelor's and master's degrees. He is currently pursuing a master's degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Cologne University of Music and Dance). He has received numerous accolades, including selection for the 23rd 21st Century Wind Music "Kyo-En", 1st Prize in the 91st Japan Music Competition (Composition Division), the Meiji Yasuda Award, the Miyoshi Award (2022), the Mitsubishi Estate Award (2023), and the 34th Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition (formerly the Akutagawa Composition Award) (2024). He was selected as a 7th-term scholar of the Kuma Foundation and a 2025 scholarship recipient of the Rohm Music Foundation. His works have been commissioned by numerous organizations, including NHK and the Suntory Foundation for the Arts, and are actively presented both in Japan and abroad. His compositions are published and recorded by Brain Music and Nexus Music Publishing.
SoundCloud：https://soundcloud.com/ss4oxgic2imw

Born in Japan in 1999, Ayane Nakase began her musical education with piano. She studied composition with Ichiro Nodaira and Misato Mochizuki at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where she earned her Master’s degree in 2024. She is currently continuing her studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she studies instrumental composition with Frédéric Durieux, and composition with new technologies under Yan Maresz and Luis Naón. She also studies music analysis with Claude Ledoux. She has participated in master classes with Toshio Hosokawa, Zsolt Nagy, Mikhail Malt, Giovanni Verrando, among others, and has taken part in workshops such as the Takefu International Music Festival (Japan), Foresty International Music Festival (Italy), and Festum-π Festival (Greece). Her works have been performed by ensembles such as the Geidai Philharmonia Orchestra (Tokyo), Ensemble NEXT (Paris), and Collettivo_21 (Italy). Her recent piece The Osedax Land, commissioned by the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra, was premiered in Nagoya (Japan) in February 2025. She won scholarships from the Kuma Foundation, the Fukushima Scholarship Foundation, the Nomura Foundation, and the Fondation Meyer.
Official website：https://ayanenakase.com/

Born in Kobe, Japan in 1999, Hiroki Tanaka began studying composition at the age of ten under Yumi Saiki. After attending the Music High School attached to the Tokyo University of the Arts, he continued his studies in composition at the Tokyo University of the Arts under Kunitaka Kokaji, from which he graduated in 2022. In the same year, he moved to Germany and completed his master’s degree at the University of Music Carl Maria von Weber Dresden in 2025, where he studied with Mark Andre and Stefan Prins. He is currently enrolled in the Konzertexamen (postgraduate) program at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, studying under Luxa M. Schüttler. In 2021, Tanaka received the 38th JSCM Award for Young Composers and was a finalist for the 33rd Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Orchestra Music Composition in 2023. He was a recipient of a scholarship from the Aoyama Music Foundation (2020) and from the Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists, administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan (2023–2025). Tanaka’s works have been performed by the Geidai Philharmonic Orchestra (University of the Arts Tokyo), New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra, and MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Yukari Saito was born in Tokyo. After completing her studies at Toho Gakuen Music High School, Saito pursued her studies at Toho Gakuen College School of Music majoring in Piano, and auditing in Conducting under the tutelage of Hideomi Kuroiwa, Ken Takaseki, and Toshiaki Umeda. From 2009, Saito participated in the conducting seminar organized by the Rohm Music Foundation and studied conducting with Seiji Ozawa, Yuji Yuasa, and Junji Mitsuishi. She was selected by Seiji Ozawa as a conducting intern, enrolling in a program to receive specialized lessons. In September 2010, Saito conducted “Opera for young people: Hansel and Gretel” at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto (Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival), debuting in opera conducting. As a “conducting researcher” of the Nippon Steel Arts Foundation, she collaborated and trained for a year with Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In September 2013, Saito relocated to Dresden where she enrolled in the Doctoral program at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden (Dresden College of Music), completing her studies as a pupil of Georg Christoph Sandmann. During this time, with the recommendation by the director of Dresdner Musikfestspiele Jan Vogler, Saito was invited to the Moritzburg Festival to be the assistant conductor of Heinrich Schiff. In 2015, Saito won the “Public favorite prize” and the “Orchestra favorite prize” at the 54th International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon. In 2016 she debuts in Europe conducting the Lille National Orchestra. The following year, Saito performed with clarinetist Daniel Ottensamer and the Tonkunstler Orchestra in Vienna. From May to July 2018, Saito was appointed as the assistant to Kirill Petrenko, the General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera, for the production of Wagner’s Parsifal. Saito has conducted various Japanese orchestras such as Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Gunma Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra, Chubu Philharmonic Orchestra, Hyogo PAC Orchestra, and Kyushu Symphony Orchestra.
Official website：https://www.kajimotomusic.com/artists-projects/yukari-saito/