„A fabulous artist… and a prince among peers.“
-The Independent

Born in Tokyo, Kotaro Fukuma began learning piano at the age of five and has received many high awards in international competitions. At the age of 20, Kotaro won both First Prize and the Chopin Prize at the 15th Cleveland International Piano Competition. Since then his concert career has developed in over 35 countries on five continents.

Kotaro has performed in major concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Salle Gaveau, Victoria Hall, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall and Tokyo Suntory Hall. His performances with orchestras include the Cleveland Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Lille National Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of such conductors as Yuri Simonov, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, François-Xavier Roth, Juanjo Mena, Hannu Lintu, Mihhail Gerts and Kazuki Yamada.

In 2016, with 24h-notice he stepped in for Nelson Freire to perform Brahms‘ Piano concerto No.2 with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse under Tugan Sokhiev. Kotaro Fukuma has released 21 commercial CDs and has received critical acclaim in Gramophone, Diapason, American Music Records, Monde de la Musique, Classica, Piano News, BR Klassik, Classic Today, etc.. His album “Fantasy – Scriabin & Rachmaninoff” (Naxos) was nominated for the International Classical Music Award 2024.

He studied music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with B. Rigutto and M. F. Bucquet, then at the Universität der Künste Berlin with K. Hellwig and at the International Piano Academy Lake Como in Italy. He also studied with several great masters of the piano, including L. Fleisher, M. Uchida, R. Goode, A. de Larrocha, M. J. Pires and A. Ciccolini. Since July 2020 he has also been producing a concert series “Rare Piano Music”, in which he presents colleague pianists and rare piano repertoire. Kotaro Fukuma currently lives between Berlin, Leiden and Tokyo.