RYUSUKE NUMAJIRI | CONDUCTOR

RYUSUKE NUMAJIRI| CONDUCTOR / COMPOSER

Artistic Director of Biwako Hall and Music Director of Tokyo Mitaka Philharmonia, Ryusuke Numajiri is one of the most demanded conductors in Japan.

Numajiri was propelled to the forefront of the international conducting spotlight by winning 1st Prize in the Besançon International Competition in 1990. This victory resulted in invitations to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, DSO Berlin, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Staatskapelle Weimar and Darmstadt, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and China Philharmonic Orchestra. Other recent major highlights include engagements with the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste. Since making his debut as an opera conductor in 1997 with Mozart's “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”, Numajiri has gone on to lead various productions at Cologne Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, Theater Basel, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opera Australia and New National Theatre Tokyo as guest conductor. Numajiri has just finalized successful six seasons at Theater Lübeck as General Music Director and then Principal Guest Conductor. Last opera production is Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” with Peter Konwitschny and last symphonic concert with Lübeck Philharmonic was Bruckner’s 5th symphony which were highly acclaimed. At Biwako Hall, he has served as Artistic Director for 12 seasons where he achieved tremendous success on the productions including “Rosenkavalier” with Andreas Homoki, “Ottelo” with Jun Aguni, “Così fan tutte” with Georges Delnon and “Die tote Stadt” with Masayoshi Kuriyama. From 2017 he has been leading “Biwako Ring”, new production with Michael Hampe in four years.

In 2014 Ryusuke Numajiri composed a beautiful opera by Japanese famous folktale “Bamboo Princess”, also known as Princess Kaguya (Taketori Monagatari), which has been performed and highly acclaimed in Yokohama, Hanoi and Otsu at Biwako Hall.

A strong advocate of contemporary music, Ryusuke Numajiri recorded “The Canticle of the Sun” by Sofia Gubaidulina with EMI, featuring Mstislav Rostropovich and London Symphony Orchestra. He also directed the Japanese premieres of several major contemporary works including Philip Glass' Peace Symphony, Busoni's Piano Concerto and “Doktor Faustus”, Zemlinsky's “Der Zwerg” and Schoenberg's Notturno. Other notable mentions he introduced to Japanese public include works by Messiaen, Andriessen, Gecki, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Berio, Dutilleux, Xenakis, Birtwistle, Matthews and Rott.

Ryusuke Numajiri was awarded Medal of Honor with the Purple Ribbon by Emperor of Japan in 2017.

2019 July