Kazuki Yamada

Winner of the Besançon Competition in 2009, Japanese conductor Kazuki Yamada has seen his career develop in Europe. Born in Kanagawa on January 26, 1979, he trained as a pianist before turning to conducting at Tokyo University of the Arts with teachers Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and Yoko Matsuo. Parallel to his studies – he received his diploma in 2001 - he founded the Yokohama Sinfonietta, then left to study with Gerhard Markson at the Salzburg Mozarteum Summer Academy. His return to Japan in 2005 saw him take charge of the Tokyo Philharmonic Choir and collaborate with the NHK Symphony Orchestra Chorus conducted by Charles Dutoit. He also led several Japanese orchestras. In 2009, fifty years after Seiji Ozawa and twenty after Yutaka Sado, Kazuki Yamada won the Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors, paving the way for an international career. That same year, he replaced Michel Plasson at the helm of the Orchestre de Paris, then Seiji Ozawa at the Académie internationale de musique de Suisse in 2010. Based in Berlin, Germany, he was principal guest conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse romande (2013-2017) and the Orchestre philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (2014-2015), of which he became artistic and musical director from 2016 to 2024. At the same time, Kazuki Yamada was appointed Principal Conductor of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2023. His discography on the Exton, Pentatone, Naxos and Erato labels includes collaborations with Adam Laloum, Denis Kozhukhin, Evelyn Chen and Marie-Nicole Lemieux. In 2023, his Diapason d'or award-winning recording of Saint-Saëns's opera Déjanire reached number 10 in the Classical Music Albums chart in France and number 40 in the UK.

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