Mari Fujiwara

Born in Osaka, Mari Fujiwra received her first violoncello lessons at age of seven and from 1959 studied with Hideo Saito. In 1971 Fujiwara was the First Prize winner at 40th National Competition. Graduated from Toho Academy of Music in 1972, she begin to activity give concerts in chamber music. In 1974 the quartet of which she was a member was awarded the Second Prize/special prize at National Competition of Chember Music. In 1975 Fujiwara gave her debut as a soloist in Tokyo and, in the same year, was awarded a Prize for New Talent from the Minister of Education. The lessons that she got from the greatest cellists Frurnier and Rostoropovich greatly helped the completion of her music. In 1978 Mari Fujiwara won The Second Prize at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. During her Soviet Union tour in 1979, Fujiwara gave a successful concert with the Leningrad State Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.