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