Masterpiece Concert 2024-2025 Going into Space 2025.February.15（Sat）14:00～ Sapporo Concert Hall; Kitara

Tatsuya SHIMONO（conductor）

Born in Kagoshima in 1969, Tatsuya Shimono cemented his international reputation as a conductor by winning the First Prize at the 47th Besançon International Competition in 2001. Since then he has regular relationships with a number of international orchestras including Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and Silicon Valley Symphony, alongside with major Japanese orchestras. In 2006 Shimono was appointed Resident Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and served as their Principal Guest Conductor from 2013 through 2017. In April 2017 he became General Music Director of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra. Shimono is currently also Music Director of the Hiroshima Wind Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his work with symphony orchestras Shimono’s opera conducting has included Die Zauberflöte, Hänsel und Gretel and The Merry Widow at Nikikai Opera, Medea, Lear (both composed by Aribert Reimann) and Hänsel und Gretel at the Nissay Theatre, La Forza del Destino at the Japan Metropolitan Opera and The Silence (Teizo Matsumura) at New National Theatre Tokyo. He has been invited to a plethora of music festivals, including the Affinis Music Festival, the Kirishima International Music Festival, the Miyazaki Music Festival, and the Beppu Argerich Music Festival. He was resident conductor at the 2010 Saito Kinen Festival that included conducting four concerts with the Saito Kinen Orchestra. Following on from this he made his North American debut with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Contemporary music forms an important part of Shimono’s career, conducting repertoire across the spectrum including Ades, Cage, Glass, Gruber HK, Adams, Takemitsu and Hosokawa. Tatsuya Shimono’s recordings include Strauss Ein Heldenleben with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Bruckner Symphony in D minor (No. 0) with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. Tatsuya Shimono received numerous awards such as the Idemitsu Music Award, the Akeo Watanabe Music Foundation Award, the Nippon Steel Music Award (New Artist Award), the 6th Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award. He was invited to join the faculty of the Kyoto City University of Arts in April 2017. (from https://www.tatsuyashimono.com/biography-en)

© Yuji Hori

Fumiaki MIURA（violin）

Born in Tokyo, Fumiaki Miura starts his musical education with Tsugio Tokunaga at his hometown Conservatory before moving to Vienna to carry on his studies with Pavel Vernikov and Julian Rachlin. Since aged 16, Fumiaki is mentored and guided by Pinchas Zukerman. In 2009 he was awarded First Prize at the prestigious Joseph Joachim Hannover International Violin Competition, being the youngest winner ever. His 23/24 season is highlighted by solo performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, ADDA Sinfónica de Alicante, Orchestra del Teatro Goldoni di Livorno, and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Turkey. In addition, he will continue his chamber music activity with his partner pianist Itamar Golan in Italy, as well as with Varvara and Jonathan Roozeman, making his debut at the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical in Madrid. Miura has performed with orchestras including Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Wiener Kammerorchester, Prague Philharmonia, Mariinsky Theater, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, NAC Orchestra Ottawa, Orchestre de Chambre Lausanne, Warsaw Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokio Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Japan Philarmonic, Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, BBC Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorf Symphoniker, hr-Sinfonieorchester or Hong Kong Sinfonietta, among others. Fumiaki Miura plays under the baton of conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Pinchas Zukerman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Kazushi Ono, Hannu Lintu, Jakub Hrůša, Vasily Petrenko, Josep Pons, Patrick Hahn, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Stéphane Denève, Kristjan Järvi, Tatsuya Shimono, Terry Fisher, and Rafael Payaré. Regular invitations to international music festivals include the Miyazaki International Music, Ravinia Festival, Julian Rachlin and Friends, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Musique de Menton, Gyeonggi Chamber Music Festivalnd Menuhin Festival Gstaad. Fumiaki has also performed at the Auditorium du Louvre and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Auditorio in Madrid, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Elbephiharmonie in Hamburg and at the Wigmore Hall in London. Miura has collaborated with artists like Yuri Bashmet, Itamar Golan, Sunwook Kim, Mischa Maisky, Maria João Pires, Lawrence Power, Julian Rachlin, Torleif Thedéen, Nobuyuki Tsujii, Jonathan Roozeman, Varvara or Pinchas Zukerman. Since 2018 he has been artistic director of Suntory Hall ARK Classics and has just completed the 2023 edition together with artists such as Nobuyuki Tsujii, Jonathan Roozeman, Young Soung and Sergei Nakariakov. In the summer of 2023, Fumiaki toured Japan - as soloist and conductor - with ARK Sinfoniettta, an orchestra formed especially for ARK Classics with eminent young artists. Months earlier, he performed Mozart's Symphonie Concertante with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Pinchas Zukerman at the baton. In 2022 Fumiaki was also elected "Forbes 30 under 30 Asia" after being elected "Forbes 30 under 30 Japan" in 2019. In 2024, to celebrate his 15th anniversary after his debut, Fumiaki will perform complete cycles of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Japanese pianist Kazune Shimizu at Suntory Hall. His discography includes Prokofiev violin sonatas with the pianist Itamar Golan for Sony Japan, as well as Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin concertos with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Hannu Lintu released by Avex-Classics label. Miura performs on the Guarneri del Gesu 1732 violin “Kaston” kindly loaned by Crystco Inc. and its CEO, Mr. Hikaru Shimura. (from http://www.agenciacamera.com/en/artist/fumiaki-miura)

© 池上夢貢

Ryoma TAKAGI（piano）

Ryoma Takagi was brought to worldwide attention when he won First Prize and Audience Prize at the 16th Grieg International Piano Competition. Also, he won first prizes at other seven international competitions, including the 26th Roma International Piano Competition. He performed at the exceptional venues such as Wiener Musikverein in Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Gasteig in Munich, the Kremlin in Moscow, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Festival Hall in Osaka. He works with outstanding orchestras in the world, including Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Ukraine, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and New Japan Philharmonic. He has shown his remarkable musicality in chamber music as he collaborates with prestigious artists such as Fumiaki Miura, Sergei Nakariakov, and Ray Chen. As an active pianist in demand, he appeared in the media and festivals in Japan. Born in 1992 in Japan, he began his musical training at the age of two and studied with Elena Ashkenazy, Hiroko Nakamura, Boris Petrushansky, and Micael Krist. He gained his bachelor and master degree at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and completed the Imola International Piano Academy with the Meister. He was appointed as the instructor of Kyoto City University of Arts in 2023. (from https://ryomatakagi.com/eng/biography)

© T.Tairadate

Ayaka OKI（vocal）

Graduated Iwate University, Faculty of Education, Music Course in Arts and Culture. Completed Master and Doctoral course in Tokyo University of Arts. Oki was awarded the first prize in the 85th Japan Music Competition Vocal Division (2016), Iwatani Award, E. Nakamichi Award, Mitsubishi Estate Award (2014) and was Japan representative for International Opera Gala Concert sponsored by Théâtre Lyrichorégra 20 in Montreal (2013). Oki was the first prize winner in the 20th YUAI German Lied Competition (2009) and Minister of Education and Science Award, which she received a supplementary prize of appearing in the recital in Vienna (Bösendorfer-Saal). Her repertoire includes Matthäus-Passion, Johannes-Passion, Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio by J. S. Bach, Handel Messiah, Haydn Die Schöpfung, Mozart Krönungs-Messe and C-moll Messa, Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Requiems by Mozart, Schumann, Faure, Brahms and Rutter, Mendelssohn Paulus and Elias, Dvorak Stabat Mater and other religious works. As for operas, she appeared in Magic Flute in New National Theatre, Adina in L'elisir d'amore, Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and many others. She also appeared in “Recital Nova” of NHK FM (2017), and “Classic TV” in NHK E-television (2020). Her first solo CD “Dearest Nignt” was released in February 2023 with Tatsuya Yabe and Yukio Yokoyama, which was selected as “Specially Selected Disc” by “Record Geijutu (Arts)” magazine. In addition, she is the vocalist in “Disney-on-Classics.” Oki was with major Japanese orchestras with Taijiro Iimori, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, David Timm and Tatsuya Shimono. She is a research associate in Tokyo University of Music, Music Division, Vocal Course, and member of Niki-Kai.