City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Under the direction of Kazuki Yamada, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra embarks tour through Europe im March 2026.
Conductor |
Kazuki Yamada |
Kazuki Yamada is Designate Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), a role he commences in spring 2023, building upon the deep musical bond formed with players during his time as Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra.
Alongside his commitments in Birmingham, Yamada is also Artistic and Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. Having already worked with the two organisations in partnership, conducting collaborative performances of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” in Monaco in 2019, Yamada’s new appointment sees a continuing link forged between Monaco and Birmingham, with the CBSO Chorus set for a return to Monaco in 2023 for a performance of Orff’s “Carmina Burana”.
Time spent under the close supervision of Seiji Ozawa served to underline the importance of what Kazuki Yamada calls his “Japanese feeling” for classical music. Born in 1979 in Kanagawa, Japan, he continues to work and perform in Japan every season with NHK Symphony Orchestra and in his position as Principal Guest Conductor with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Shortly after assuming his position in Birmingham, Yamada will give a series of concerts on tour around Japan with the CBSO in summer 2023.
Yamada’s passionate and collaborative approach to conducting means he commands a busy international diary of concerts, opera and choral conducting. The current season begins with his debut at the BBC Proms with CBSO in summer 2022. He continues regular guesting commitments with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, also returning to Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. He makes debut appearances with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique and the Minnesota Orchestra. He also returns to Opéra de Monte-Carlo for a production of Saint-Saëns’ rarely programmed “Déjanire” and Berlioz’s “La damnation de Faust”. Future guesting dates include Swedish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Yamada performs with soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Leif Ove Andsnes, Seong-Jin Cho, Isabelle Faust, Martin Helmchen, Nobuko Imai, Alexander Kantorow, Evgeny Kissin, Daniel Lozakovich, Maria Joao Pires, Baiba Skride, Arabella Steinbacher, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Krystian Zimerman and Frank Peter Zimmermann.
Strongly committed to his role as an educator, Yamada appears annually as a guest artist at the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international concert halls reaffirmed his belief that -– in his words – ‘The audience is always involved in making the music. As a conductor, I need an audience there as much as the musicians’. Yamada studied music at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he discovered a love both for Mozart and the Russian romantic repertory. He first achieved international attention upon receiving first prize in the 51st Besançon International Competition for young conductors in 2009. After living in Japan for most of his life, he now resides in Berlin.
SEASON 2022/2023
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Under the direction of Kazuki Yamada, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra embarks tour through Europe im March 2026.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
In January 2026, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will hold a tour through Spain (including the Canary Islands) under the direction of Kazuki Yamada.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Principal Guest Conductor Kazuki Yamada on tour.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on European Summer Festival Tour for the First Time under Principal Guest Conductor Kazuki Yamada.
General Management (except France, Italy and Russia):
Anna Wetherell
+44 20 7395 09-32
anna.wetherell@kdschmid.co.ukGeneral Management (except France, Italy and Russia):
Ellen Arkwright
+44 20 7395 09-37
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25.07.2022
Kazuki Yamada makes his BBC Proms Debut with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Read more„Kazuki Yamada and the CBSO have an electric connection. The orchestra play with a unity and a precision under his baton that I have seldom heard with anyone else.“
„Rachmaninov's long 2nd Symphony is a work in which the crepuscular and the turgid sometimes seem separated by only a very fine line, yet Yamada took rare control of the brooding first movement and made something special of the Adagio's wintry nocturne, complete with melting clarinet solos.“
„It’s clear the CBSO players adore him and they signed off with an affectionate Chanson de nuit encore. This is going to be an interesting relationship to follow.“
„On Thursday night at the Kennedy Center, I watched one of the most charismatic conductors I’ve seen all year lead the National Symphony Orchestra in one of the most energetic performances I’ve heard all season.“
„Yamada is a conductor of wonderful podium presence, every expressive gesture communicating his deep immersion in the music, with the orchestra responding so positively and enthusiastically.“
„Yamada is reminiscent of Andris Nelsons: a smiling, engaging presence who seems to exude music, and who can shape massive sonorities with the wave of a finger.“