The Tokyo Branch of the Romanian Cultural Institute will host a screening of the documentary film "Eminescu, Veronica, Creanga (1914)” directed by Octav Minaru, as well as a chamber music recital featuring Fumika Mouri (violin) and Toshihiro Kaneshige (piano). This event is co-organized by the Romanian Embassy in Japan, the Romanian National Film Center, and the National Film Archive (Cinemateca Română), and commemorates two national holidays celebrated in January: “National Culture Day” (January 15) and “Unification Day of the Principality of Romania” (January 24).
Fumika Mouri won first prize at the 2012 Seoul International Music Competition, becoming the youngest winner in the competition’s history and the first Japanese winner. She won second prize at the 2015 Paganini International Violin Competition and third prize at the 2019 Montreal International Music Competition. In her artistic development, Fumika Mouri studied under Kaori Tajiri and Sachika Mizuno, and later under Koichiro Harada at Toho Gakuen School of Music, as well as under Mihaela Martin at the Kronberg Academy in Germany and the Cologne University of Music. As a soloist, she has performed with renowned orchestras both in Japan and abroad, including the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Kremerata Baltica, Sinfonia Varsovia, and the European Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed with renowned artists such as Sir András Schiff, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Ilya Gringolts, Nobuko Imai, Tabea Zimmermann, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and Franz Helmerson.
Fumika Mouri performs on a 1717 Stradivarius “Sasserno” on loan from the Sasakawa Music Foundation (formerly the Japan Music Foundation).
Toshihiro Kaneshige made his debut with the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 11 and won second prize at Japan’s most prestigious student competition, held in Nagoya, when he was 14. In 2006, he entered the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied under Kenji Watanabe and Eva Pobrocká. In 2012, as a scholarship recipient of the Okada Cultural Foundation and the Rotary Foundation, he furthered his studies at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig.
From 2013 to 2014, he received an annual scholarship from the Elfrun Gabriel Foundation.
Toshihiro Kaneshige performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, the United States, and Asia.
He is also a member of the piano quintet “Zephyrus,” formed with members of the Dresden State Orchestra of Saxony and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2016, he won first prize at the “Achilles delle Vigne” International Music Academy Competition at the Coimbra International Piano Competition, following which he performed a series of solo and orchestral concerts in Portugal. In 2018, he completed a masterclass with Professor Gérard Faut, receiving the highest evaluation. He currently resides in Tokyo but continues to perform regularly in France and Belgium. He has previously taught in Leipzig and Tokyo, and currently teaches in Kyoto and Nagoya.
“Eminescu, Veronica Creanga” is a Romanian documentary film produced in 1914 by the Bucharest branch of Pathé. Octav Minaru served as director, and Alexandru Bacaloglu, editor-in-chief of the Oradea magazine “The Three Cris Rivers,” assisted with production. The film premiered on January 31, 1915, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. It features archival materials, photographs, and footage of the places where Mihai Eminescu, Veronica Micule, and Ion Creangă lived and the places they visited. Originally, this documentary consisted of approximately 1,500 meters of film; however, the Romanian National Film Archive currently preserves only a 570-meter copy of the original footage and a 650-meter (approximately 20-minute) copy that includes inserted footage.
