Kazuki Yamada conducts Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Piano: Mao Fujita

In 2009, Kazuki Yamada was awarded first prize in the 51st Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors and soon thereafter made his European debut conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Since his appearance with the Orchestre de Paris in the same year, Yamada has rapidly expanded his range of activity, conducting orchestras including the Czech Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonia, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In 2023 he made his debut at the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Since the 2016-2017 season, he has been Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. In May 2024, he became Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.Yamada studied with Yoko Matsuo and Ken-ichiro Kobayashi in the conducting department of Tokyo University of the Arts, and studied in Europe as a Rohm Music Foundation international music scholarship student. In 2022, he was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit from the Principality of Monaco.

Artist Page

https://www.japanarts.co.jp/en/artist/kazukiyamada/

Artist Page

https://www.japanarts.co.jp/en/artist/maofujita/

While a student at the Department of Aesthetics, Faculty of Letters, the University of Tokyo, Motoko Murozumi encountered a pipe organ at a church where a choir gave a regular concert, and was fascinated by its timbre, so she started playing the organ.Entered the Department of Instrumental Music (organ major), Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, and studied with Michio Akimoto, H. Puig-Roget, and Z. Szathmary. Winner of the Ataka Award. After completing the master’s course at the graduate school, she served as the chief curator of the music department of the Art Tower Mito, and received the Hidekazu Yoshida Award of Art Tower Mito for the Organ Lecture for Citizens.After that, she expanded her activities to include the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra, and Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. She played the organ solo in “Janáček: Glagolitic Mass” with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Radomil Eliška in 2008, and “Schmitt: The Book of the Seven Seals” with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Christian Arming in 2009. In 2010, she performed “Britten: War Requiem”’ at Carnegie Hall with the Saito Kinen Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa. In 2017, she participated in the Rostropovich Music Festival at the Moscow Conservatory with the Yokohama Sinfonietta conducted by Kazuki Yamada. She studied ”Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3” under Jean Fournet, and was acclaimed as “an organist who can communicate with an orchestra”. Since then, she has successfully performed over 60 times with many conductors including Gary Bertini, Jakub Hrůša, Kazushi Ono, and Kazuyoshi Akiyama, and Kazuki Yamada. She is a member of the Japan Association of organists, a lecturer at the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy (2006), and a lecturer in the organ course at Art Tower Mito.

Artist Page

https://www.japanarts.co.jp/en/artist/orchestrephilharmoniquedemontecarlo/