No. 2061 Subscription (Program B)

Fabio Luisi hails from Genoa. He first conducted the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2001 and became its Chief Conductor in September 2022. He performed Verdi’s Requiem to celebrate his appointment, and Mahler’s Symphonie der Tausend for the orchestra’s 2000th subscription concert in 2023. In 2024, he led the orchestra’s Taiwanese tour, and then in May 2025, he successfully led its European tour scheduled in conjunction with Amsterdam’s Mahler Festival at The Concertgebouw, the Prague Spring Festival and the Dresdner Musikfestspiele: the NHK Symphony Orchestra was the first Asian orchestra to appear at the Mahler Festival, performing the composer’s Symphonies No. 3 and No. 4 to critical praise. Currently the Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, he was General Music Director of the Opernhaus Zürich, Principal Conductor of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Chief Conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker, General Music Director of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Sächsische Staatsoper, Principal Conductor and Chief Conductor of the MDR-Sinfonieorchester, Artistic Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Chief Conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchester and Artistic Director of the Grazer Symphonisches Orchester. He is also Music Director of Puglia’s Festival della Valle d’Itria Martina Franca and Emeritus Conductor of Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai. He is a frequent guest of leading orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Saito Kinen Orchestra, opera houses and festivals worldwide. In recording, his complete Nielsen symphonic cycle with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was recognized with Limelight and Abbiati Awards in 2023, while its first volume was named Recording of the Year by Gramophone. He received a Grammy Award for his leadership of the last two operas of Wagner’s Ring cycle at the Metropolitan Opera, as released on DVD. His first CD with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (1st version) was released in May 2025.
He is an accomplished composer and maker of perfumes.

One of Japan’s foremost clarinetists, Kenji Matsumoto joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2002 and became its Principal Clarinet in 2011. He debuted at the orchestra as a concerto soloist performing Paul Hindemith’s Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra under the baton of Marek Janowski in 2017.
After being trained in Japan, he was accepted into the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris in 1993. He graduated from the clarinet course in 1997 receiving the Léon Leblanc Special Award, and from the chamber music course the following year.
A top prize winner at the 6th Japan Woodwind Competition, the 4th Japan Clarinet Competition and the 22nd Toulon International Music Competition (France), he studied clarinet with Akira Tsunoda, Koichi Hamanaka, Kazuko Ninomiya, Kahori Takemori, Michel Arrignon, Jérôme Julien-Laferrière and Alain Damiens, and chamber music under Daria Hovora, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Jean-Guihen Queyras.
An enthusiastic music educator and chamber musician as well, he is a member of the chamber orchestra ARCUS and the Trio Cinq Anches.
This is his solo concerto debut at the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s subscription concerts. Led by their Chief Conductor Fabio Luisi, they will play Mozart’s popular Clarinet Concerto that the composer wrote for his friend and clarinet virtuoso Anton Stadler.