Tatsuya Shimono Appointed as Permanent Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra Conducting Traditional Beethoven 9th Symphony Concerts in December

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo has designated Tatsuya Shimono, one of Japan’s leading conductors, as its Permanent Conductor on October 5th, 2023, the anniversary of the orchestra’s founding.

Tatsuya Shimono has served as Resident Conductor and Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and Permanent Guest Conductor and Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. Currently he is in the positions of General Music Director of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Hiroshima Wind Orchestra, and will assume Principal Guest Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in April 2024 while appearing with professional orchestras across Japan frequently and conducting music festivals and operatic performances. He has great presence to lead the classical music world of Japan. He also enjoys abundant experience overseas conducting the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Czech Philharmonic orchestra and many others.

He first appeared with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2005. Since then, he has presented ambitious programs such as combining 20th century works with classical works for subscription concerts, but he has also conveyed the real taste and pleasure of listening to orchestral performance through classical masterpieces in concerts nationwide. He has also been active in broadcasts with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and has actually conducted the theme music of NHK Television’s saga dramas, which the NHK Symphony Orchestra performs every year, for six different times.

The first collaboration after the appointment is the Beethoven 9th Symphony concerts, the traditional year-end concerts which the NHK Symphony Orchestra has started in Japan. It will be a rare opportunity to enjoy Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 "Choral", an eternal masterpiece of the composer, performed under his baton, to see the artistic merger and achievement of Maestro Shimono and the orchestra with their perfect rapport in recent years.

With the appointment of Maestro Shimono, joining Maestro Tadaaki Otaka, who assumed the post in 2010, the NHK Symphony Orchestra will enjoy two Permanent Conductors. I hope you will be delighted with the performances of the NHK Symphony Orchestra under the lineup of its prominent conductors.

Message from Tatsuya Shimono

Mission to Continue Conveying Excitement

I have been watching the NHK Symphony Orchestra on television since my primary school days. When I was in the 6th grade, I was watching television with a tiny score of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which I had just bought, in one hand. That is the earliest memory. I also fondly remember that one day, I was astonished to hear some sutra-like music coming from the television. Actually, it was Toshiro Mayuzumi’s Nirvana Symphony performed by the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Hiroyuki Iwaki. The image of Maestro Yuzo Toyama gracefully conducting Feste Romane is still burnt in my memory The first time I heard the NHK Symphony Orchestra live was in the concert to inaugurate our local concert hall and I was emotionally moved so much that I was trembling.

Please excuse me for writing too much about my fond memories. But what I would like to say is that the NHK Symphony Orchestra has been part of my life since early childhood. And now the orchestra will have me as its Permanent Conductor. There are many world-class renowned conductors associated with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. I know I am far away from such a level, however, I would like to find a role which is unique to a conductor of the Japanese nationality and do my best as a part of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, while seeking guidance from Maestro Tadaaki Otaka, who has long been its Permanent Conductor.

Delivering music to children which can bring them smiles and dreams – considering that as the given mission, I am hoping to keep working sincerely with the members of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Thank you.

Biography

Tatsuya Shimono


Born in Kagoshima in 1969, Tatsuya Shimono studied conducting at the Toho Gakuen School of Music after learning at the Music Department of Kagoshima University’s Faculty of Education. In 1996, he received a diploma in orchestral conducting from the Chigiana Musical Academy in Siena, Italy. In 1997, as the first conductor-trainee with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, he studied further under great maestros including the late Takashi Asahina, and was chosen as an artist to be dispatched overseas from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 1999 to study at the the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna until June 2001. He was tutored by Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Hideomi Kuroiwa and Shunsaku Tsutsumi. Yuji Yuasa, Leopold Hager, Ervin Acèl, Yuri Temirkanov, Myung-Whun Chung, Osamu Ishii and Junichi Morikawa.

He came under the limelight after winning the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting and the Hideo Saito Award in 2000, and in the following year, won the Besançon International Conducting Competition, and launched his concert activities globally. He started to receive invitations from major orchestras in Japan including the NHK Symphony Orchestra on a regular basis, while overseas he has repeatedly guest-conducted orchestras, including the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Wiener Kammerorchester, the Orchestre Régional de Cannes Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Symphony San Jose, Barcelona Symphony and Sinfonia Varsovia.

After serving as the first Resident Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (November 2006 – March 2013), he was then appointed Principal Guest Conductor (April 2013 to March 2017). In the space of slightly more than 10 years, he earned high artistic acclaim by his ambitious stance and programming, which centered around works of Hindemith and Dvořák, combined with newly composed works which he and the orchestra gave the world premiere performances. Furthermore, he became Permanent Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra in April 2014, and from April 2017 to March 2020, he was Principal Guest Conductor. With the Hiroshima Wind Orchestra, to which he has been Music Director since 2011, he has gathered attention by engaging in unique activities to take a different approach in the music by wind instruments. In April 2017, he was appointed as General Music Director of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra (until March 2024, then he has been designated as Conductor Laureate from April 2024). He has also been scheduled to assume the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in April 2024.

He has appeared in numerous festivals including the Kirishima International Music Festival and the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto, while in the operatic field, he has conducted notable performances including those at the New National Theatre, Nissay Theatre, and by Nikikai Company. The awards he has received include the 2002 Idemitsu Music Award, the Akeo Watanabe Music Foundation Music Award, the 17th Nippon Steel Music Award/New Artist Award in 2006, the 6th Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award in 2007, and the 63rd Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award for Art Encouragement in 2012, 46th MBC Award in 2013, 44th Tonen General Music Award Encouragement Award in 2014, 67th Southern Japan Cultural Award Special Award in 2016, 41st Arima Prize in 2021, and the Hiroshima Citizen’s Award in 2022.

He serves as Kagoshima City hometown ambassador, Ojanse Kirishima ambassador and Music Advisor to Kodo, the Taiko (Japanese drums) Performing Arts Emsemble. He teaches the next generation of artists as a visiting professor at both the Faculty of Music at Kyoto City University of Arts, and at the Department of Conducting at the Faculty of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts, and as a specially appointed professor at the Wind Band Faculty at the Tokyo College of Music.

Since his first appearance with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2005, he has conducted many of its subscription concerts as well as concerts the orchestra performs nationwide. He led the orchestra’s Taiwan tour in June 2016 to great success. In December 2023, he will conduct the orchestra’s year-end Beethoven 9th Symphony concerts for the first time.

He conducted the theme music of NHK Television’s one year-long saga dramas for six times as well as the theme music of Century of Images (performance by the NHK Symphony Orchestra). Apart from those, he hosts NHK-FM’s program titled Sounds of Wind Music. Thus he is also active in television and radio.

He became Permanent Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in October 2023.

Beethoven 9th Symphony Concerts

Friday, December 22, 2023 7:00pm
Saturday, December 23, 2023 2:00pm
Sunday, December 24, 2023 2:00pm
Tuesday, December 26, 2023 7:00pm*
At NHK Hall

The concert on December 26 is a charity concert co-hosted by NHK and NHK HEARTS.

NHK Symphony Orchestra Beethoven 9th Special Concert presented by Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd
Wednesday, December 27, 2023 7:00pm
At Suntory Hall

Tatsuya Shimono, conductor
Eri Nakamura, soprano
Aya Wakizono, mezzo soprano
Kota Murakami, tenor
Teppei Kono, bass
New National Theatre Chorus, chorus
Masayo Katsuyama, orngan (27th only)

Bach / 18 Chorales, Leipziger Chorale - Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV654* (27th only)
Barber / Adagio for Strings
Beethoven / Symphony No. 9 D Minor Op. 125 Choral