Ryusuke NUMAJIRI

Music Director at Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra from April 2022. Artistic Director at Biwako Hall and Music Director at Tokyo Mitaka Philharmonia. Ryusuke Numajiri is one of the most demanded conductors in Japan. Winner at 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. He successively held posts at several Japanese orchestras. He also 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 finalized successful six seasons at Theater Lübeck as General Music Director. 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 15 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 lead Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen", new production with Michael Hampe in four years whic was followed by "Lohengrin" and "Parsifal". In 2014 Numajiri composed and made world premiere a beautiful opera by Japanese famous folktale "Bamboo Princess", also known as Princess Kaguya, which has been repeated internationally and highly acclaimed. 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. He was awarded Medal of Honor with the Purple Ribbon by Emperor of Japan in 2017