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Appearing

conductor / Elias GRANDY＜Chief Conductor, from April 2025＞

soprano* / Saki NAKAE

Song List

~J. STRAUSS II 200th anniversary of his birth~

This is a part of the concert series that starts at 2pm in Kitara.（Enjoy also a preconcert talk that starts from 1:45pm)
Grandy will lead you to the journey of Vienna; much joy to the nature "Pastoral" and jolly J. Strauss II music known in the New Year Concert. Ms. Saki Nakae, from Takasu-cho Hokkaido will be with us during this journey.

Special website for Elias Grandy, our Chief Conductor

Elias Grandy is our chief conductor from April 2025. Your message and videos are updated regularly. We will ask Elias your questions!!

『to the special page：https://new.express.adobe.com/』

“Hurray!! To Elias Project”

“Hurray!! To Elias Project” is ongoing with you.
The first season (2025-2026) is to complete all the concerts with Elias! Look for the details from the following website.

『 “Hurray!! To Elias Project”：https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/aZIDHlzdiBYu4』

【special interview】Elias Grandy, Chief Conductor▽

© Y.Fujii

Elias GRANDY＜Chief Conductor, from April 2025＞（conductor）

Elias Grandy’s international profile is rapidly rising by conducting first-class orchestras and opera productions in Europe, America and Asia. Hailed by the press as “passionate and full of temperament”, “vigorous and equally precise” and praised for his ability to “grasp psychological subtleties under a microscope”, the German-Japanese conductor gave recently highly successful debuts with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic and Minnesota Orchestra. In 23/24 the energetic, charismatic conductor will return to Frankfurt Radio Symphony, National Youth Orchestra of Germany and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Tokyo and give debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken. Furthermore, he will take the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie Chemnitz on a tour to Poland as their “conductor in residence” for 23/24 and appear frequently with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he enjoys a close relationship for many years. Elias is equally devoted as an opera conductor, feeling passionately about theatre and musically shaping the narrative of each drama. In recent years he has conducted highly acclaimed productions of Elektra and Carmen at Minnesota Opera, Werther and A Village Romeo and Juliet at Frankfurt Opera, Un ballo in maschera at Aalto-Theatre Essen, Carmen at Opera Nikikai Tokyo and Rusalka at Portland Opera. Future engagements include the Semperoper Dresden and reinvitations to Frankfurt Opera and Opera Nikikai Tokyo. Last season he finished his tenure as music director of Heidelberg’s Opera and Philharmonic orchestra where he significantly raised the caliber of both, providing thoughtful, innovative programming and burnishing the city’s fast-growing reputation as a vital musical hub. Enthusiastic about making music more accessible, he introduced several highly popular concert formats for young people and an educated audience. His final season programme included Prokofjev’s Love for Three Oranges, Bruckner’s Symphony No.7 and a series of unknown works by female composers. Born of German-Japanese parents Elias studied cello and conducting in Munich, Basel, and Berlin. He worked as a cellist in orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Komische Oper Berlin. He started his conducting career as Resident Conductor at Staatstheater Darmstadt and shortly after won the prestigious Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition. In 2015 he was named music director in Heidelberg, a position he held until 2023. Grandy was a member of the Orchestra Academy (cello) in 2004, and of the Conducting Academy in 2012. In 2024 he made his return to PMF as Guest Conductor.

© Ayane Shindo

Saki NAKAE（soprano*）

Born in Takasu-cho, Kamikawa-gun, Hokkaido and studied Vocal in Music Course, Art Study, Hokkaido University of Education, Iwamizawa Campus. Nakae continued to study Vocal Solo in Master Course at the Tokyo University of Arts, and while she was studying her master course, she has won acanthus award. Since then, she has been awarded Mitsubishi Estate Award, Asahikawa New Artist Award 2008, the 14th Japan Mozart Music Competition Vocal Section (2nd prize), the 78th Japan Music Competition Opera Section, the 3rh Julliard Music Competition (1st prize), the 12th Yoshinao Nakada Memorial Competition Award (Grand Prize), the 25th HIMES Music Competition Vocal Section (1st prize), the 11th Tokyo Music Competition Vocal Section (3rd prize, no 1st prize given), and many more. Nakae is active both in opera and symphonic stages, performing Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Queen of the Night in the Music Flute, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto and appeared in Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Requiem; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Missa solemnis, Dvorak’s Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. The most recently, Nakae has received the 27th Dogin Art and Culture Promotional Award.