The flautist Masahide Kurita was born in Utsunomiya Japan in 1973. He started his musical education at the age of five and began the flute when he was eleven. He won first prize in the All Japan Student Music Competition in Tokyo in 1992, and studied at the prestigious Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music followed by the Royal Academy of Music in London. Masahide Kurita has taken lessons and master classes with Sir James Galway in Japan, the United States, and Switzerland. His meeting and subsequent lessons with James Galway were fundamental in shaping his artistic tone development. After his début concert in Germany, he is now an Australian resident and has released two CDs with the Melbourne pianist Len Vorster and gives recitals regularly in Australia and Japan. Masahide Kurita has an extensive repertoire from baroque to contemporary music and his highly polished technique and rich tone as well as his delicate attention to detail and sharp musical expression give his music-making a beauty and flavour unlike other flautists.
