Assistant Professor of Viola
Instrumental Studies
The Hartt SchoolEducation
The Juilliard School
Northwestern University
Montana native Korine Fujiwara is a founding member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, now celebrating its 20th season, a sought-after chamber musician, teacher, and a gifted composer and arranger. Prior to joining The Hartt School, University of Hartford as Assistant Professor of Viola, she was professor of viola, violin, chamber music, and composition at Pacific Lutheran University (WA). She also served on the faculty of Ohio Wesleyan University and is in high demand for national master classes.
With Carpe Diem, she has appeared on prestigious stages including New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, and Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art. Their global footprint features Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Beijing’s National Library Concert Hall, Tianjin’s BinHai Performing Arts Center, and a residency at Italy's Accademia Chigiana. They also perform at alternative venues and festivals like Le Poisson Rouge (NY), WNYC’s Greene Space (NY), The 222 (CA), Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (CA), Olympic Music Festival (WA), Concerts in the Barn (WA), and Snake River Music Festival (CO). The ensemble bridges concert halls and community spaces, playing for the Columbus Museum of Art, The Apache Nation, and The Ohio Women’s Reformatory.
Named one of Strings Magazine’s “25 Contemporary Composers to Watch,” Korine has received commissions for opera, chamber ensembles, chorus, concerti, and modern dance. Her works have been performed across the US, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, China, and Japan, blending classical, folk, jazz, and rock influences into a rhythmic, intense language.
Korine received an Opera America Commissioning Grant from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, for her award-winning composition The Flood (Stephen Wadsworth, librettist), premiered in full production by Opera Columbus and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in 2019.
A gifted violist and violinist, Korine holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Northwestern University, studying under Joseph Fuchs and Myron Kartman. Her other mentors include Harvey Shapiro, Robert Mann, and Joel Krosnik. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and began her orchestral career with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and is a former member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.
Korine performs on a 2004 Kurt Widenhouse viola, 1790 Contreras violin, and bows by Paul Martin Siefried, Ole Kanestrom, and Charles Espey. When not performing, practicing, composing, or teaching, Korine enjoys playing with her dogs, hiking, geocaching, ramen, anything chocolate, and searching for her next favorite books and movies.
[Photo Credit: Natalie Gaynor Photography]
“...a fiery and flexible performance that was astonishingly free.” (The New York Times)
“With enthrallingly flawless execution and miraculous synchronicity, the Carpe Diem String Quartet wowed their New York audience… an unmatched delicacy of the classical and modern music scene.” (New York Theatre Guide)
"...they exuded just the kind of immediacy and energy that will draw new audiences to classical music... Their playing itself communicated worlds of emotion – with a healthy measure of pure fun." (New York Concert Review)
“Here [Carpe Diem] once again triumphs…with readings that marry cantabile espressivo and tendency towards Beethovenian cross-referencing... The players here communicate such delight in the Russian’s quirky inspiration that the ear is led effortlessly on…” (The Strad)
“(Carpe Diem plays) fresh, path-breaking new works... Adventurous and often breathtaking. Eclectic almost to a fault, the group ranged from jazz to Turkish dances to some of the hardest-hitting music of the 20th century.” (The Washington Post)
“The world premiere of Korine Fujiwara’s Mosey could not have been better placed to bring everyone back to smiling... Full of humor, it lives in a language of folksy charm combined with a frenetic edge (bluegrass fiddling meets hints of Raymond Scott’s Powerhouse)... complete with dizzy slides and percussion on the body of the cello, and the cumulative effect was dazzling. This is one of those pieces that all quartets will want to play...” (New York Concert Review)
“The ear is forever tickled by beautifully judged music that manages to be sophisticated and accessible... Contains a very rare attribute in contemporary classical music: happiness.” (Fanfare Magazine)
“She knows how to exploit all the resources of string instruments alone and together; her quartet writing is very democratic... her solo violin writing is fiendishly difficult.” (Strings Magazine)
“Artfully layered and knitted together… The poignant sections in which characters in different periods actually sing together—a trio, a sextet, and even an octet—dovetail perfectly. The dramatic arc builds persuasively to the climactic moments...” (The Wall Street Journal)