(born 1960) is a Japanese

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. He is currently music director of the

Brussels Philharmonic The Brussels Philharmonic is a Belgian orchestra located in Brussels. Formerly known as the Groot Symfonie-Orkest, BRT Philharmonic Orchestra, and later as the Flemish Radio Orchestra, the orchestra has been linked to the Flemish public broadc ...

and of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of

New National Theatre Tokyo The is Japan's first and foremost national centre for the performing arts, including opera, ballet, contemporary dance and drama. It is located in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. Since 1997 more than 650 productions were staged. There are about 300 p ...

Biography

Ōno studied at the

Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

, and with

Wolfgang Sawallisch Wolfgang Sawallisch (26 August 1923 – 22 February 2013) was a German conductor and pianist. Biography Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich, the son of Maria and Wilhelm Sawallisch. His father was director of the Hamburg-Bremer-Feuerversich ...

and Giuseppe Patanè at the

Bavarian State Opera The Bavarian State Opera () is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bavarian State Orchestra. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under El ...

, as a scholar of the Japanese Ministry of Culture. In 1987, he won First Prize in the 3rd Toscanini International Conductors' Competition. Ōno was principal conductor of the

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra The is recognized as the oldest symphony orchestra in Japan. It was founded in 1911 and debuted at the original Matsuzakaya store in Nagoya as the . It relocated to Tokyo in 1938. As of 2024, it has 166 members. The orchestra plays frequently a ...

from 1992 to 1999, and its artistic advisor from 1999 to 2001. He currently holds the title of Conductor Laureate with the orchestra. In May 2013, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Ōno as its music director, as of April 2015, with an initial contract of 5 years. In 2018, his contract was extended through March 2023. In October 2021, the orchestra further extended his contract through 2026.

Career in Europe

In Europe, Ōno was Chief Conductor of the

Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Croatian: Zagrebačka filharmonija) is a Croatian orchestra based in Zagreb. The orchestra gives its concerts principally at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall and at the Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb. Hi ...

from 1990 to 1996. He was General Music Director of the Baden State Opera,

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

from 1996 to 2002. In August 2002, he became music director of

La Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

(

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

), after his debut there in March 2001, conducting

Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino (born 4 April 1947) is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. Described as "the best-known and most performed Italian composer" of the present day, his works include ''Quaderno di strada'' (2003) and ''La porta d ...

's chamber opera ''

Luci mie traditrici ''Luci mie traditrici'' (My Traitorous Eyes) is an opera in two acts by Salvatore Sciarrino, who also wrote the libretto. It was first performed under the German title ''Die tödliche Blume'' (''The Deadly Flower'') on 19 May 1998 in the Schloss ...

''. Other contemporary operas that Ōno conducted with La Monnaie included

Philippe Boesmans Philippe Boesmans (17 May 1936 – 10 April 2022) was a Belgian pianist, composer and academic teacher. He studied to be a pianist at the Royal Conservatory of Liège, and was self-taught as a composer, influenced by the Liège Group of Henri Po ...

' '' Julie'' and '' Wintermärchen'', and the world premiere of

Toshio Hosokawa is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. He studied in Germany but returned to Japan, finding a personal style inspired by classical Japanese music and culture. He has composed operas, the oratorio '' Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima' ...

's ''Hanjo'' at the

Aix-en-Provence Festival The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumenta ...

(2004). Ōno stepped down as music director at La Monnaie at the end of the 2007–2008 season, his recordings there having included Mahler's Resurrection Symphony and the five Prokofiev piano concertos with Abdel Rahman El Bacha. Ōno became principal conductor of the

Opéra National de Lyon The Opéra National de Lyon (), marketed as Opéra de Lyon during the last decade, is an opera company in Lyon, based and performing mostly at the Opéra Nouvel, an 1831 theater that was modernized and architecturally transformed in 1993. Histo ...

at the start of the 2008–2009 season, with an initial contract of 5 years. He concluded his tenure at Opéra National de Lyon at the close of the 2016–2017 season. In January 2014, the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (OBC) announced the appointment of Ōno as its next music director, effective September 2015, with an initial contract of 3 years, which was extended until the end of the 2021–2022 season. Ōno was appointed artistic director of the

(NNTT) from the 2018 season, since extended until the 2025–2026 season. His first productions included the world premiere of ''Asters'' in 2019, commissioned from Japanese composer Akira Nishimura, which was nominated for a 2020 International Opera Award. Subsequent NNTT world premieres include Dai Fujikura' ''A Dream of Armageddon'' (2020) and Keiichiro Shibuya's Android opera ''Super Angels'' (2021). In November 2024 he conducted the Japanese premiere of ''

Guillaume Tell William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for Shooting an apple off one's child's head, shooting an apple off his son's head. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a cro ...

''; one reviewer noting that the production, "unquestionably one of the NNTT's greatest achievements", was brought about by Ōno, in whose hands "the grandeur of Rossini's musical architecture was everywhere apparent". Other new works Ōno has commissioned include

Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 10 June 1960) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. Life and career Mark-Anthony Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex on 10 June 1960. Turnage was the eldest of three children. His parents were lov ...

's ''Hibiki'', which premiered at

Suntory Hall The is a concert venue in the central Akasaka district of Tokyo, Japan. Part of the Ark Hills complex, it consists of a main concert hall, widely considered one of the finest in the world for its acoustics – Herbert von Karajan called it “ ...

in November 2016 before featuring at the 2017

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

and which won the 2018 Royal Philharmonic Society award for Large-Scale Composition. In 2021, Ōno first guest-conducted the

. In September 2021, the Brussels Philharmonic announced the appointment of Ōno as its next music director, effective with the 2022–2023 season.

Awards

Ōno is the recipient of the 2009 Suntory Music Award and the 2015

Asahi Prize The , established in 1929, is an award presented by the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun'' and Asahi Shimbun Foundation to honor individuals and groups that have made outstanding accomplishments in the fields of arts and academics and have greatl ...

. He was also awarded Officier de l’

ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

by French cultural minister Françoise Nyssen for his contribution to Japanese society.

References

External links

Official website of Kazushi OnoMaestro Arts agency profile on Kazushi Ono

Interview on MusicalCriticism.com, October 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ono, Kazushi 21st-century Japanese conductors (music) Japanese male conductors (music) Living people Music directors (opera) Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon 1960 births