Japanese Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii to Perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Hailed globally by critics as a phenomenon, superstar pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii will be returning to the Sydney Opera House next month to perform Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Tsujii, who has been blind since birth, began piano lessons aged two after his mother noticed him teaching himself nursery rhymes on his toy piano. He made his concert debut at 10 years old with the Century Orchestra, Osaka, and achieved international recognition in 2009 upon being awarded joint gold prize in the Van Cliburn piano competition. His performance in that competition was deemed so transfixing that the competition's namesake, eminent pianist Van Cliburn, described it as "absolutely miraculous", while Juror Richard Dyer, chief music critic for The Boston Globe, remarked:"[v]ery seldom do I close my notebook and just give myself over to it, and he [Tsujii] made that necessary. I didn't want to be interrupted in what I was hearing."

Tsujii learns music entirely by ear and commissions specialised assistants to make recordings of new pieces, with one recording for the left hand and one for the right. He also uses his ears to follow conductors when rehearsing and performing, telling The Telegraph: "I listen very hard for the conductor's breathing. That tells me where we are in the rhythm."

For more information, visit www.sydneysymphony.com.

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