Masafumi "Masa" Fukuda[1] (福田真史;[2] born in 1976[3]) is a Japanese-American songwriter, music arranger, and choir director. He is the director and founder of One Voice Children's Choir.
Born in Osaka, Japan, he was a music prodigy, having composed his first piano song when he was 4. He enrolled in the Yamaha Music School when he was eight, learning musical composition and how to work with musical ensembles. As a sophomore in high school, he participated in a student exchange program at the Meridian School, a private school in Provo, Utah. He encountered Brigham Young University (BYU) professors whose strong teaching skills convinced him to attend BYU.
At BYU, he won a contest for nearby composers to write music for sale as soundtracks during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. He asked 1,621 elementary school students to help him make the commemorative Olympic CD "Light Up the Land". Some of those students performed as the 2002 Winter Olympic Children's Choir and Fukuda volunteered to train them. Once the Olympics had ended, the children wanted to continue to perform together, so Fukuda started One Voice Children's Choir.
- ^ Robinson, Doug (2015-01-19). "Doug Robinson: 'Heart and soul' of One Voice". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
- ^ 中澤輝 (2017-07-29). "心震わす 奇跡の少年少女合唱団" [Mind shaking juvenile boys and girls choir] (in Japanese). NHK. Archived from the original on 2017-09-05. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
- ^ "福田真史『君だけの声を聴かせて』｜PHP研究所". PHP研究所 / PHP INTERFACE (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-12-16.