©Masahide Sato
TAKASEKI
Ken（Conductor）
Ken Takaseki was born in Tokyo. He won the Karajan Competition in Japan in 1977 while he was still a student at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. After graduating from the school the following year, he left Japan to study at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy (Karajan Foundation) and worked as an assistant to Herbert von Karajan till 1985. During the summer of 1981, he studied under Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood Festival.
Takaseki has earned the profound trust of artists. At the Pierre Boulez Kyoto Prize Workshop in 2009, for example, he received high praise from Pierre Boulez and such world-renowned soloists as Mischa Maisky, Itzhak Perlman, and in particular Martha Argerich, for his performances over the course of three concerts including the Japan premiere of a work by Rondion Schedrin.
He was Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra (1986-1990); Conductor of the New Japan Philharmonic (1994-2000); Principal Conductor of the Century Orchestra Osaka (1997-2003); Music Director of the Gunma Symphony Orchestra (1993-2008); Resident Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra (2003-2012); Principal Guest Conductor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra; and currently he is a Principal Conductor of the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Resident Conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Professor for conducting department, faculty of music of Tokyo University of the Arts and Principal Conductor of The Geidai Philharmonia Orchestra,Tokyo. April 2021, he appointed Chief Conductor of the Mt.Fuji Philharmonic Orchestra. (Shizuoka Symphony Orchestra)
He won Akeo Watanabe Foundation Music Award in 1996, Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award in 2011 and Suntory Music Award in 2018.
In March 2019, he conducted Dan Ikuma's opera "Yuzuru" at Vladivostok and St. Petersburg, as part of the "Japan Year in Russia".
In April 2021, he conducted the New National Theatre, Tokyo Opera production, Stravinsky's "Le Rossignol" and Tchaikovsky's
Ken Takaseki was born in Tokyo. He won the Karajan Competition in Japan in 1977 while he was still a student at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. After graduating from the school the following year, he left Japan to study at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy (Karajan Foundation) and worked as an assistant to Herbert von Karajan till 1985. During the summer of 1981, he studied under Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood Festival.
Takaseki has earned the profound trust of artists. At the Pierre Boulez Kyoto Prize Workshop in 2009, for example, he received high praise from Pierre Boulez and such world-renowned soloists as Mischa Maisky, Itzhak Perlman, and in particular Martha Argerich, for his performances over the course of three concerts including the Japan premiere of a work by Rondion Schedrin.
He was Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra (1986-1990); Conductor of the New Japan Philharmonic (1994-2000); Principal Conductor of the Century Orchestra Osaka (1997-2003); Music Director of the Gunma Symphony Orchestra (1993-2008); Resident Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra (2003-2012); Principal Guest Conductor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra; and currently he is a Principal Conductor of the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Resident Conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Professor for conducting department, faculty of music of Tokyo University of the Arts and Principal Conductor of The Geidai Philharmonia Orchestra,Tokyo. April 2021, he appointed Chief Conductor of the Mt.Fuji Philharmonic Orchestra. (Shizuoka Symphony Orchestra)
He won Akeo Watanabe Foundation Music Award in 1996, Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award in 2011 and Suntory Music Award in 2018.
In March 2019, he conducted Dan Ikuma's opera "Yuzuru" at Vladivostok and St. Petersburg, as part of the "Japan Year in Russia".
In April 2021, he conducted the New National Theatre, Tokyo Opera production, Stravinsky's "Le Rossignol" and Tchaikovsky's
"Iolanta".