Rafael Hirochi Fuchigami

Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education (PhD), Researcher in the Institute of Ethnomusicology at Tokyo College of Music. Shakuhachi player of the Pro Musica Nipponia (Nihon Ongaku Shudan). Born in São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. Graduated from University of Campinas with a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance, after which he took up shakuhachi, subsequently completing Masters degree at the same university, as a FAPESP fellow. The theme of his Master's thesis was "Musicological and cultural aspects of the shakuhachi in Brazil". In 2013, Fuchigami performed as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of University of Campinas in the premiere symphonic poem "Musashi for Shakuhachi and Orchestra". In the same year, he received a scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation, and went to Japan for six months for shakuhachi study in The International Shakuhachi Kenshu-kan and the Sugawara Hogaku Kenkyushitsu. In 2015, Fuchigami was awarded a scholarship by The Nippon Foundation to study for 5 years in Japan. He improves his shakuhachi study with the masters Kaoru Kakizakai and Kuniyoshi Sugawara, and developing a repertoire of traditional pieces of shakuhachi (Koten Honkyoku), Japanese Chamber Music (Sokyoku and Jiuta), Modern Japanese Music (Shin-Nihon Ongaku), as well as Contemporary Japanese Music (Gendai Ongaku). In the chamber music repertoire, he receives orientation from Shoko Izumiyama. In 2016, he entered the Graduate Program at Tokyo College of Music, and developed the Doctoral research "The process of learning shakuhachi in Brazil as a construction of Japonesidades?. In 2018 he was approved at the audition of Nihon Ongaku Shudan (Pro Musica Nipponia, the professional orchestra of traditional instruments in Japan) and became an official member of the group. In 2019, he received the Shihan License by The International Shakuhachi Kenshu-kan. Fuchigami develops chamber music concerts in collaboration with Japanese traditional instruments (koto, shamisen, etc.), and also, he establishes partnerships with Western instruments, playing classical music, Brazilian music, among others. He held a shakuhachi concert in Brazil, Argentina and Japan (Tokyo, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Hokkaido, Hamamatsu, Mie, Nagano, etc.). Fuchigami has as his personal objective, the preservation of the shakuhachi and traditional culture of his ancestors. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)