Orchestre de la Suisse Romande & Kazuki Yamada
Biographie Orchestre de la Suisse Romande & Kazuki Yamada
Kazuki Yamada
is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director Designate of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, a post that begins in the 2016/2017 season. He additionally holds the title of Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, since his sensational debut with the orchestra in 2010, which was one of his first appearances in Europe. In Japan, he holds further titles of Principal Conductor of Japan Philharmonic, Music Partner with both Sendai Philharmonic and Ensemble Orchestral Kanazawa, and Music Director of Yokohama Sinfonietta, an ensemble he founded whilst still a student.
Yamada appears regularly as a guest with such orchestras as Orchestre de Paris, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Utah Symphony and Tonkünstler-Orchester at the Vienna Musikverein. Soloists with whom he is working include Emmanuel Ax, Boris Berezovsky, Håkan Hardenberger, Nobuko Imai, Daishin Kashimoto, Daniel Müller-Schott, Xavier de Maistre, Steven Osborne, Vadim Repin, Baiba Skride, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpčeski and Alexander Kniazev.
In the 2015/16 season, Kazuki Yamada returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Na-tional de France, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, NHK Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony, whom he conducts on tour in Japan in spring 2016. Debuts include Staatskapelle Dresden, Bergen Philharmonic, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and his debut in a European opera house, at Grand Théâtre de Genève. He continues his cycle of Mahler symphonies with Japan Philharmonic.
He is active in the field of opera, and will be performing ‘La Traviata’, ‘Carmen’ and ‘Rusalka’ in Japan in coming seasons. He is strongly supported by Seiji Ozawa and in August 2012 he conducted a semi-staged production of Honegger’s ‘Jeanne d´arc’, with Saito-Kinen Orchestra. The ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ project was also a huge hit in spring 2015 in Côme de Bellescize’s staged version at the new Philharmonie hall in Paris, with Orchestre de Paris. The character of Joan of Arc was performed by the French actress Marion Cotillard and the production received high critical praise.
Yamada and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande are releasing a series of CDs inspired by dance, on the Pentatone label. This continues in the current season with a recording of French ballet works, and another of works by Manuel de Falla. Furthermore, a disc of works by Glazunov, Kalinnikov and Khatchaturian with Czech Philharmonic was released in 2014. Yamada is also Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus’s Music Director and the chorus has released ten CDs on Fontec.
Now resident in Berlin, Yamada was born in Kanagawa, Japan, in 1979. In 2009 he was the winner of the 51st Besancon International Competition for young conductors.
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Founded in 1918 by Ernest Ansermet, permanent conductor until 1967, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, with its 112 permanent musicians, ensures subscription concerts in Geneva and Lausanne, the City of Geneva symphony concerts, the annual fund-raising concert for the UN, as well as opera performances at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Its reputation has been built up over the years thanks to its historic recordings and its interpretation of 20th-century French and Russian repertoire.
The orchestra's Music and Artistic Director will be Jonathan Nott from the 2016-2017 season. Its Principal Guest Conductor is Japanese maestro Kazuki Yamada.
Under the guidance of its founding conductor and subsequent music directors (Paul Kletzki 1967- 1970, Wolfgang Sawallisch 1970-1980, Horst Stein 1980-1985, Armin Jordan 1985-1997, Fabio Luisi 1997-2002, Pinchas Steinberg 2002-2005, Marek Janowski 2005-2012, Neeme Järvi, 2012-2015), the world-famous Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is an active contributor to the history of music through the discovery or support of leading contemporary composers. The pieces by Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Frank Martin, Benjamin Britten, Heinz Holliger, Peter Eötvös, James MacMillan, Pascal Dusapin, Michael Jarrell or Richard Dubugnon were premiered in Geneva by the OSR. It is one of its important mission: supporting the symphonic creation, and particularly the Swiss one. The OSR is a partner of Pro Helvetia until 2017 for the project “Oeuvres suisses”
From its very early days and in close collaboration with the Radio-Télévision Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande has been broadcast on radio around the world, enabling millions of listeners to tune in. Thanks to a partnership with Decca, (over 100 recordings), the OSR has made legendary recordings. The orchestra has also recorded for dozens of labels, which have won major awards. The orchestra has developed a privileged partnership with PentaTone, recording up to two to three discs per season.
The OSR’s international tours have led them to perform in the most prestigious venues in Europe (Berlin, London, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Budapest and Amsterdam), Asia (Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing), as well as in major cities on the American continent (Boston, New York, San Francisco, Washington, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Montevideo). During the 2011-2012 season, the OSR gave its first performances in Moscow and St Petersburg. In July 2014 the orchestra made a triumphant visit to Japan (Suntory Hall) and Seoul (SeongNam Arts Center) and in February 2015, it engaged on a major US tour with Charles Dutoit and Nikolai Lugansky, on both the West and the East Coast. The OSR has been invited by many festivals, including Música de Canarias, the Lucerne Easter and Summer Festivals, the Festival de Radio France and Montpellier, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, and the Septembre Musical de Montreux.
The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is funded by the canton and City of Geneva, Radio-Télévision Suisse Romande, associations of Friends of the Orchestra and many sponsors and patrons. For the concerts in Lausanne, the OSR receives generous support from the Canton of Vaud.
