“A great performer and artist” (Riccardo Muti)
“A musician of natural talent and charisma” (Paavo Järvi)

Winner of the 77th Music Competition of Japan (horn division) in 2008, Fukukawa has performed as a soloist with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, and more, under such conductors as Fabio Luisi, Christoph Eschenbach, Kenichiro Kobayashi, Ryusuke Numajiri, Tatsuya Shimono, Yukinori Tezuka, Toshiaki Umeda, Sachio Fujioka, and Masato Suzuki.

Eminent conductors and players across Japan and beyond have great confidence in Fukukawa, who has collaborated with former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Rainer Küchl as well as oboist and composer Heinz Holliger.
Fukukawa is invited to concert halls all over the country for various concert series and participates in numerous music festivals such as “La Folle Journée au Japon” and the “Spring Festival in Tokyo,” to name a few.

With a passion for expanding the horn repertoire, Fukukawa has frequently commissioned and premiered new works. Several dozen pieces have been specially composed for him, including Joe Hisaishi’s Horn Concerto, Takashi Yoshimatsu’s “Spiral Bird Suite,” Dai Fujikura’s “PoyoPoyo,” “Yurayura,” “Zazaza,” “Harahara,” and Horn Concerto No. 2, Karen Tanaka’s “Enchanted Forest,” Motoharu Kawashima’s “Rhapsody in Horn,” Kenji Sakai’s “Das Lebewohl,” and Masato Suzuki’s “MOZARTiana” and “MINIATURE OF THE WORLD.”

Not limited to the field of the French horn, Fukukawa’s activities as soloist extend to period instruments such as natural horn, Vienna horn and French-style piston horn. Most notably, he has appeared as a guest Baroque horn player with the Bach Collegium Japan.
In recent years, he has also been focusing his energy on chamber music, particularly as a member of “Harmoniemusik,” an ensemble featuring top members of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He is also a member of the all-star virtuosi group “Tokyo Sextet.” Fukukawa’s concerts, including recitals, concertos, and chamber music, have been broadcast on Japanese TV networks such as NHK, TV Asahi, and Fuji Television, as well as networks in Germany and Italy.

Fukukawa became principal horn of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of twenty. He joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2013 and became their principal horn in 2015.
He studied under Tsutomu Maruyama, the late Masahiro Tanaka, Bruno Schneider, David Pyatt, and Jonathan Lipton, making a guest appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra while studying in the UK.

Fukukawa released his solo CDs “Rhapsody in Horn,” “Rhapsody in Horn 2,” and “Rhapsody in Horn 3” on King Records, Japan.

After performing at PMF 2023 as a member of ARK BRASS, this marks Fukukawa’s second appearance at PMF.