Classically Speaking

Pianist Fujiko Hemming hated playing the piano when she was a kid. She liked to paint, but her mother thought that she’d have a better career as a piano teacher.

When Hemming started to lose her hearing at the age of 16, she didn’t worry too much about how it would affect her as a musician. She took the money meant for a doctor’s appointment and spent it on going to see American movies instead.  

Even now, as a musician who spent two years of her life completely unable to hear, she doesn’t dwell on regretting her youthful folly.  Instead, she told me that she appreciates the view of the rest of the world that the movies gave her.

She did grow to love music, and her playing led to concert engagements and attracted the attention of prominent musicians, including Leonard Bernstein and pianist Samson François.

Twice, her developing career was cut short due to illnesses and increased hearing loss. Since 1999, with partially recovered hearing, she has made a musical comeback, playing recitals and releasing a flurry of recordings. 

Fujiko's story is inspiring, and she is committed to helping others (both people and animals) through music and philanthropy, but she is relentlessly down to earth about her own experiences. 

Listen to our interview, and you’ll hear what I mean:

Fujiko Hemming’s new album, her American debut, focuses on romantic piano favorites, which she plays in a beautiful, deliberative manner.  Here's a beautiful example, with Hemming's introduction -- Liszt's piano transcription of Robert Schumann's song "Frühlingsnacht" [Spring Night].

You can also hear her playing Debussy’s Clair de Lune here.

She's continued to pursue her love of visual art -- that's her artwork featured on the album cover.


(Note: On this album, her name is spelled Fuzjko, but most previous albums and articles have her name as Fujiko.)