Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra

Kazuyoshi Akiyama (Conductor)

Born in 1941, Kazuyoshi Akiyama studied conducting under Hideo Saito at the Toho Gakuen School of Music.

Akiyama has held prestigious posts such as Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra (1973-1978) and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (1972-1985). During this time, Akiyama’s reputation spread to Europe and throughout North America, where he has been invited to conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and many others.

He is the recipient of numerous highly prestigious honors in Japan including the Person of Cultural Merit (2014) for his outstanding cultural contributions.

Akiyama currently holds the title of Conductor Laureate at the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as well as other positions with several Japanese orchestras.
He has also been acting as Permanent Conductor and Music Director of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra since 1998.

In 2014, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his conducting career.

Charles Richard-Hamelin (Piano)

Silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman award of the best sonata at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, Charles Richard-Hamelin is standing out as one of the most important pianists of his generation. He also won the second prize at the Montreal International Musical Competition and the third prize and special award for the best performance of a Beethoven sonata at the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea. In April 2015, he was awarded the prestigious Career Development Award offered by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.

He has appeared in various prestigious festivals including the Prague Spring Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron in France, “Chopin and his Europe” Festival in Warsaw and the Lanaudière Festival in Canada. As a soloist, he has performed with various ensembles including the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, OFUNAM (Mexico), Korean Symphony Orchestra and I Musici de Montréal.

Originally from Lanaudière in Québec, Charles Richard-Hamelin studied with Paul Surdulescu, Sara Laimon, Boris Berman and André Laplante. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in performance from McGill University in 2011 and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music in 2013 and received full scholarships in both institutions. He also completed an Artist Diploma program at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal in 2016 and currently takes lessons on a regular basis with pianist Jean Saulnier. His first solo CD, which features late works by Chopin, was released on the Analekta label in September 2015 and received widespread acclaim from critics throughout the world (Diapason, BBC Music Magazine, Le Devoir).

Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra

Violin
Stanisław Podemski

Flute

Andrzej Krzyżanowski

ORCHESTRE SYMPHONIQUE DE MONTRÉAL

Contrabass
Ali Yazdanfar

Horn

John Zirbel

■Robert Markow (Montreal, Canada)

■Robert Cezary Pagacz (Warsaw, Poland/ Canada)

■Janusz Marynowski (Warsaw, Poland)

■Yukiko Hagiya (Japan)

Volkhard Steude（ solo Violin/Concertmaster ）

Volkhard STEUDE （violin） was born in 1971 and began violin studies from 5 years of age at the Konservatorium Cottbus in Brandenburg in the former East German Democratic Republic. In 1987 he placed second in the East German youth competition and from 1988 began his higher education at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin under the tutelage of Joachim Scholz and Professor Werner Scholz, during which he won a number of international competitions.

In 1993 he became the first concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and after acquiring his Diplom degree in Berlin in March 1994, continued his studies in Vienna under Professor Alfred Staar.In November 1994 Volkhard Steude was appointed concertmaster of the Orchesters der Wiener Staatsoper, and in 2000 was also named concertmaster of the Wiener Philharmoniker.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Wiener Philharmoniker, much of which was recorded live for radio broadcasts and/ or CD releases. Being passionate about chamber music, Mr.Steude also has served since 2002 as concertmaster of the Wiener Virtuosen, a chamber music ensemble comprised of members of the Wiener Philharmoniker. Volkhard Steude performs on a 1718 Antonius Stradivarius（ formerly owned by Viotti and Rose）, which is on loan from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank（ the central bank of the Republic of Austria）.

In 2016, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra in Japan conferred the honorary title of Music Partner of HSO upon Volkhard Steude.

Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra

Principal 2nd Violinist
Kamil Staniczek

Principal Contrabassist

Nicholas Franco

DR SymfoniOrkestret

Principal Clarinettist
Pedro Franco Lopez

Fagottist

Dorte Bennike

Christian Arming/ conductor

Music Director of the Liege Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 2011, Christian Arming previously held the same post at the New Japan Philharmonic, the Lucerne Theatre and Symphony Orchestra, and was Chief Conductor of the Janáček Philharmonic. In 2017, he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra.
Since conducting the Czech Philharmonic at the Prague Spring Festival in 2003, he has conducted top European orchestras including Dresden Staatskapelle, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester, Salzburg Mozarteum, Vienna Symphony, Swiss Romande, Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Capitole de Toulouse orchestras. In North America, he has conducted Boston, Cincinnati, Houston and Vancouver Symphony orchestras, and in Asia, the NHK, Shanghai Symphony, Taiwan and Malaysian Philharmonic orchestras, among others. His work has also won many supporters in the operatic world.

Christian Arming was born in Vienna and studied conducting under Leopold Hager at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Seiji Ozawa has also been a mentor and strong supporter of his career.

In 2017/2018, he debuted with Saint Louis and Atlanta Symphony orchestras, and returned to the Aspen Music Festival and Prague Radio Symphony. 2018/2019 highlights include his return to the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and opera “Carmen” with Seiji Ozawa Music Academy in March 2019.

Mathias Müller /Timpani

Mathias Müller was born in 1965. He had piano lessons for 7 years, and at the age of 12 he began percussion studies at the conservatory Rostock. After studying at the Musikhochschule Leipzig from 1982 to 1987, he got the first engagement as a drummer in the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Maestro Kurt Masur in 1987.

He escaped from the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1989, and became a member of the Stuttgart Philharmonic from 1990 to 1996. He returned to the Gewandhaus in Leipzig in 1996, and since 2000, he is a solo timpanist in the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Maestro Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly and currently Maestro Andris Nelsons.

He had numerous guest activities in various orchestras with well-known conductors such as Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Dresden Philharmonic, Saxon State Orchestra Dresden, Staatskapelle Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, and as a soloist in the Bach Orchestra Leipzig.

He was teaching at the conservatories Rostock and Leipzig, and had a lecturer at the Affinis Festival in Hiroshima in 2017.

He became a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in the summer of 2018.

Makoto Ozone /Piano

Majoring in Jazz composition and arrangement, Makoto Ozone graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in 1983. The same year, he gave a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in New York City, becoming the first Japanese musician to be exclusively signed to CBS, with the worldwide release of his first album OZONE.

His stellar career has brought him a Grammy nomination in 2003, and has constantly been in the forefront of the international jazz scene, recording and touring with the greats of Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Branford Marsalis, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Christian McBride, Dave Weckl, Mike Stern and others. In 2004, he formed the “No Name Horses” big band in Japan. The band has been performing successfully in France, Austria, the US, the UK, Singapore and Japan ever since.

In recent years, Ozone has also been focusing on works from the classical music repertoire, playing concertos by Bernstein, Mozart, Rakhmaninov, and Prokofiev, with major orchestras both in Japan and abroad.

In February 2014, he was appointed by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, to take part in their Asian tour, as the first Japanese jazz pianist. He later participated in a special performance at their home concert hall, Avery Fisher Hall, where he received a warm welcome of a full-house audience, highly praised by the media, such as the New York Times. The San Francisco Symphony also invited Ozone to take part in their concert later that year.

2017 has already been a busy year for the pianist; in March, Gary Burton, who announced his retirement from performing, and Ozone, toured the US, and later in May and June through Japan. In August, along with Clarence Penn and James Genus, THE TRIO released Dimensions, their first reunion album in a decade, and once again, he was invited by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, to perform three days in a row, at their regular concerts held at the David Geffen Hall (renamed from Avery Fisher Hall in 2015) in early November.
2018 The Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon

WEB:http://makotoozone.com/

トランペット：金井晶子 Shoko Kanai /Trumpet

Born in Minoh City, Osaka, Shoko Kanai was graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 2014 and the Osaka College of Music Graduate School of Music in 2016. After she joined The College Operahouse Orchestra in 2016, she is the member of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra since 2017. She won the third prize at the 6th Kansai Trumpet Players Association Competition. She took lessons at the 20th Hamamatsu International Wind Instrument Academy and Festival, and was selected as one of the member of the Premium Concert. Furthermore, she appeared in various concerts both as a member of Brass Quintet and Orchestra. She studied trumpet under Haruto Yoshida, Takayuki Akizuki, Ichiro Iizuka, Osamu Kumashiro, and chamber music under Shigekazu Ikeda.

Orchestra de Paris

Violin

Nadia MEDIOUNI

Violin

Gilles HENRY

Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra

Principal 2nd Violinist

Kamil Staniczek

Principal Contrabassist

Nicholas Franco

Krzysztof Penderecki Composer/Conductor

Multi-award winning Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki is one of the world’s leading and most distinguished musicians of his generation.

Works like Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), St. Luke Passion (1966), Cello Concerto No.2 (1982) written for Mstislav Rostropovich, Polish Requiem (1984), Symphony No.3 (1995), Violin Concerto No.2 “Metamorphosen” written for Anne-Sophie Mutter (1995), Symphony No.7 “The Seven Gates of Jerusalem” (1996) and the Double Concerto (2012) written for Janine Jansen and Julian Rachlin, to name a few, are now considered masterworks of our time.

Aside from composition, Krzysztof Penderecki has developed an outstanding career as a conductor over the years. He was guest conductor of both the NDR Elbphilharmonie and MDR Leipzig sinfonieorchesters, Artistic Director of the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico (1992–2002), and Artistic Advisor to the Beijing Music Festival. Since 2003 he has held the position of Artistic Director of the Sinfonia Varsovia with which he has developed a wide range of projects.
He also regularly works with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Iuventus – both of which he has recorded several albums with – Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2014, Anna Schmidt filmed a long documentary film on Penderecki’s music and life, “Paths through the Labyrinth”.

Conducting engagements of the 2018/19 season include the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan and Hiroshima symphony orchestras, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern and Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa.

Recent highlights include the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Staatskapelle Weimar, Dresdner Philharmonie, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Sinfónica di Galicia, the closing concert of the 2017 Prague Spring Festival (Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra), and a tour of Latin America including concerts with Orquesta Sinfônica del Estado de São Paulo.

Over the years, Penderecki has garnered numerous awards both as composer and conductor – his most recent accolade is a fifth Grammy Award (2017) for Best Choral Performance (he was previously awarded in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2013).

Other awards include the Grand Art Prize from the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia (1966), Prix Italia (1967), Sibelius Gold Medal (1967), Polish Composers’ Association Prize (1970), Prix Arthur Honegger (1977), Sibelius Prize of the Wihuri Foundation and National Prize of Poland (both in 1983), Premio Lorenzo il Magnifico (1985), University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition (1992), Prize of the International Music Council/UNESCO (1993), Music Prize of the City of Duisburg (1999), Cannes award “Living Composer of the Year” (2000), Premio Príncipe de Asturias (2001), Romano Guardini Prize of the Catholic Academy in Bavaria (2002), and the Praemium Imperiale (2004).

Since 1990, Penderecki has held the Grand Cross for Distinguished Services of the Order of Merit in Germany and Chevalier de Saint Georges.
In 1995 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, and in 1998 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
He was made Commander of the Three Star Order in Riga, Latvia in 2006 and is a member of the Order of the White Eagle in Poland. Krzysztof Penderecki is honorary doctor and honorary professor of numerous international universities.

Sayaka Shoji /Violin

Educated in Siena at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and Cologne at the Hochschule für Musik Köln under Zakhar Bron, the Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji has been described by Gramophone magazine as “a formidable musician, able to draw on huge reserves of stamina and the unflinching equal of anything thrown at her.”
Shoji was the youngest and first Japanese violinist to win the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1999 and since then has established strong connections with world renowned conductors including; Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi, Osmo Vänska and Sir Antonio Pappano.

Highlights last season included tours to Japan with The Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev and concerts with Noseda and Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Other highlights include a tour with the NHK Symphony Orchestra for Mendelssohn’s Double concerto with Vikingur Olafsson conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich with Yutaka Sado and the new Würth Philharmoniker with Leo Hussain.
A prolific recording artist, the violinist has recorded a number of albums for Deutsche Grammophon, including the full violin sonatas by Beethoven, and more recently with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov concertos by Sibelius and Beethoven. With Yutaka Sado and the Tonkunstler Orchester, Shoji has recently released a live disc of Bernstein’s Serenade recorded in the Musikverein in Vienna. Other live recordings include sonatas by Mozart, Schubert and Brahms recorded live with Menahem Pressler in April 2014.

Sayaka performs regularly with her long-time mentor and supporter, Yuri Temirkanov and most recently appeared as the only non-Russian musician to perform at his 75th birthday gala concert in St Petersburg. The pair have toured extensively with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra to much of Europe, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the USA. The 2018/19 season will again see Sayaka join the SPPO and Temirkanov for concerts in Rome, Udine, Bari and Milan playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto as well as a tour in Japan. She will make debuts with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Klaus Makkela and the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn with Dirk Kaftan. Sayaka will work with Krzysztof Penderecki performing his concerto with Orchestra Metropolitana de Lisboa.

In a change to her usual performance practice, Sayaka has also created an experimental visual art project, ‘Synesthesia’ where she mixes music and colours with the aim to transform her musical perception into different forms.

In January 2016, Sayaka received the Mainichi Art Award, one of Japan’s most prestigious awards presented to those who have had a significant influence on the arts.
Sayaka plays a 1729 Recamier Stradivarius which is kindly loaned to her by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.