FGM Turns 200! with Haruka Fujii - Part 3

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 211: FGM Turns 200! with Haruka Fujii - Part 3

Looking for a way to listen to diverse creators and to support equity in the arts? Tune in weekly to For Good Measure!

In this week's episode, we continue FGM Turns 200!, a mini-series where we talk to Ensemble for These Times' members and past guest artists. Today, we continue our conversation with E4TT’s guest percussionist Haruka Fujii, who we spoke to in April 2025. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Haruka Fujii, check her out here: https://www.harukafujii.com/.

This podcast is made possible by grants from the California Arts Council, SF Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts, and generous donors like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!

Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/episodes/19270877

Co-Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-Producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason, Christy Xu

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00

[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists. I'm Nanette McGuinness, Artistic Executive Director of Ensemble for These Times. In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Haruka Fujii. [INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

Nanette McGuinness  00:28

That actually leads to the second question I was going to ask you. So, nice segue. Thank you.

Haruka Fujii  00:33

Sure.

Nanette McGuinness  00:34

Which was to talk about playing with Ensemble for These Times.

Haruka Fujii  00:38

Yeah, like I said I am a really big fan of you guys. It's such an important work that we, you are doing, and we all, as an artist, are doing.

Nanette McGuinness  00:52

You too.

Haruka Fujii  00:52

Yeah, to keep, keep exploring like what the music of now is you know the music of of like a classical music of today's form and to keep exploring the possibilities of like what we said like not just as as defining what the instruments could be for percussion but then for the music, like, what, what, what could be called classical music, it's such a big form, right, and then I think that's the time also, and we're at the time that classical music goers, like music listeners who has the culture of having a season ticket and going to, you know, concert halls and getting all dressed up, and then you socialite, that's part of the the culture of their every, you know, their what is, what's the word...

Nanette McGuinness  01:56

Their experience?

Haruka Fujii  01:57

Experience. That... that is sort of not, I hope it's not disappearing, it's changing, right?

Nanette McGuinness  02:05

It is changing.

Haruka Fujii  02:05

Like how people, how people want to attend to in-person any events, but I think the, the effort, like... like you do, and I do, to keep presenting and keep producing an event like this, that the people come and witness the creation and the beginning of what next music could be. I think it's just, we, somebody has to be doing this, you know. And then, when I have to be honest, when you commission the piece, it's not every time, it's, it's the biggest, most beautiful piece ever. Sometimes it could be, you know, like anything couldn't happen, like music could be maybe like one out of, you know, 10 commission could be the piece you have. You might have to wait for that...

Nanette McGuinness  02:55

[laughs]

Haruka Fujii  02:55

...but I think we just have to keep producing it, and I think I think that's how the classical music also, but this music keeps evolving and keeps giving a good impact on people, not just musically, but as, as a society. I think it's a healthy effort.

Nanette McGuinness  03:18

Mmhmm. Yeah, yeah, I would agree. Commissioning is a leap of faith right? You don't know what you're going to get. I mean, you, you ask either your friends or... and colleagues, or people that you want to work with, or people whose music you admire, or they ask you if, if you know that... it works both ways, but it's a total leap of faith, and you don't know what you're going to get, you know, when you're putting together the program, you're like, okay, I think this will [laughs] and...

Haruka Fujii  03:45

Right.

Nanette McGuinness  03:45

And what I find so interesting, and it could be partly an accident of who I ask on any given program, but I establish the theme, and then I ask certain composers, and we figure out what... what concert, what theme, what date works for them. And then what's really beautiful is that often there is a thread connecting the works...

Haruka Fujii  04:09

mmhmm

Nanette McGuinness  04:10

...that I...

Haruka Fujii  04:11

Exactly.

Nanette McGuinness  04:12

...wouldn't have known or expected, and yet it's there. So, and it, it almost always works beautifully. So it's really nice, and a surprise. [laughs]

Haruka Fujii  04:21

Oh yeah, it's always like, yeah, like you said, beautiful with the surprise, yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  04:27

Yeah [laughing] sometimes big surprise, yes.

Haruka Fujii  04:30

[laughs]

Nanette McGuinness  04:30

So, the last thing I wanted to ask you about is, do you have things coming up that you're looking forward to and want to share with us?

Haruka Fujii  04:40

Yes, there is October 25, we just firmed up the reservation is going to be the second year, the beginning of the second year of Nippon Kobo...

Nanette McGuinness  04:53

mmm... Congrats!

Haruka Fujii  04:53

...and we're going to be. Thank you. We're going to be focusing on the collaboration between chamber music and live calligraphy performance.

Nanette McGuinness  05:02

Ooo!

Haruka Fujii  05:02

Yeah, and we will be talking... The, we... we tried to set a new theme, and this year the inaugural year's theme was seasons, and musically, and visually, and culturally, we talked, and we created, we collaborated under the theme seasons...

Nanette McGuinness  05:23

Right.

Haruka Fujii  05:23

...and then, and we represent how to, how Japanese people... seasons influence Japanese people to do things like everyday things to making art. So that was the year theme, and the next year theme is going to be Ma, which is the word for space, and this is a concept that exists in everyday living of Japan, to relationship to martial arts, to art making, to everything that's defining of the space is something really special. So that is going to be the theme of the second year, and then in the first, first event of the second year is going to be on October 25 at Civic Center.

Nanette McGuinness  06:09

Oh.

Haruka Fujii  06:09

And yeah, I hope a lot of people can witness the concept of Ma space...

Nanette McGuinness  06:17

[laughs]

Haruka Fujii  06:17

...through the collaboration, and also in the spring 2026 is going to be a kick off of this Silk Road with Rhiannon Giddens, Sik Road's new project called Sanctuary is going to start and next spring, March is the tour that I believe it comes to Cal Performance as well and sanctuary as a keyword. This is going to be a musical storytelling of how music heals people, how music gathers people, makes community, and reflecting all the artists who's in Silk Road and Rhiannon have been feeling about our society today.

Nanette McGuinness  07:06

Yes.

Haruka Fujii  07:06

We wanted to collect all this traditional music that exists in all over the world that functions as a healing and the spiritual music for people, for instance, tarantella music from Italy...

Nanette McGuinness  07:06

[laughs]

Haruka Fujii  07:06

...Shaman music from China... things like that. So we are going to collect all these pieces and then share it with you all.

Nanette McGuinness  07:11

That's wonderful. And I've been hearing that notion of healing and community from other musicians and curators in their planning. And then, of course there's the piece that you're going to premiere for E4TT as well next year as part of our Women Crossing/ Liminality that Vivian is going to write, so we're looking forward to that as well.

Haruka Fujii  07:52

I'm so excited. Yes, I love working with Vivian, and I talked so much, you know, like I love making new music with composers, so yes...

Nanette McGuinness  08:01

Yeah.

Haruka Fujii  08:01

Looking forward to it.

Nanette McGuinness  08:02

Great. Well, thank you so much for doing this interview and sharing so much of your time with us.

Haruka Fujii  08:07

Thank you, Nanette. It's been great.

Nanette McGuinness  08:09

[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Haruka Fujii, for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT, our concert season online and in the Bay Area, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit us at www.E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible by grants from the California Arts Council, the San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts, and generous donors like you. For Good Measure is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and design by Brennan Stokes, with special thanks to Co-producer and Audio Engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]