KD SCHMID Kazuki Yamada

Conductor

Kazuki Yamada

Biography – about the artist.

ARTISTIC and music DIRECTOR ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE MONTE-CARLO, 
music DIRECTOR of CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,  
PERMANENT CONDUCTOR JAPAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA,
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CHAIRMAN THE PHILHARMONIC CHORUS OF TOKYO, 
MUSIC DIRECTOR YOKOHAMA SINFONIETTA

Kazuki Yamada is Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Alongside his commitments in Birmingham, Yamada is Artistic and Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (OPMC). Yamada has forged a link between Monaco and Birmingham having conducted collaborative performances with the CBSO Chorus of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’ in both cities in 2019 and Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ in 2023.

His time 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 performs in Japan every season with NHK Symphony Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Shortly after assuming his position in Birmingham, in summer 2023 Yamada gave a series of concerts on tour around Japan with the CBSO and in summer 2024 with OPMC.


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 return to the BBC Proms in summer 2024 with the CBSO, closely followed by his return to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin as part of Musikfest Berlin. In May 2025, he takes the CBSO on tour to Europe and on tour to Japan just one month later. Yamada also conducts the Monte Carlo Opera in a double bill celebration of Ravel with ‘L'enfant et les sortilèges’ and ‘L'heure espagnole’. He makes debut appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Filarmonica della Scala, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony. He continues regular guesting commitments with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de France, and Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg for a special performance of Fauré’s Requiem with Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus.

Yamada performs with soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Leif Ove Andsnes, Seong-Jin Cho, Isabelle Faust, Martin Helmchen, Nobuko Imai, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Alexandre Kantorow, Evgeny Kissin, Maria João Pires, Julian Pregardien, Baiba Skride, Fazıl Say, 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 and is strongly committed to the CBSO’s outreach programme. 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 Tokyo University of the Arts, where he discovered a love for both Mozart and the Russian romantic repertory. He first achieved international attention upon receiving first prize in the 51st International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors in 2009. Having lived in Japan for most of his life, Kazuki Yamada now resides in Berlin.

SEASON 2024/2025


Orchestra.

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Chief Conductor Kazuki Yamada on a European tour. The soloists Kian Soltani, violoncello, and Fazıl Say, piano, will enrich the concert experience.

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The next dates:

09.10.2024

Basilique Saint-Sernin de Toulouse

Toulouse

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10.10.2024

Basilique Saint-Sernin de Toulouse

Toulouse

> more about the promoter

11.10.2024

Basilique Saint-Sernin de Toulouse

Toulouse

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18.10.2024

Philharmonie Luxembourg

Luxembourg

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30.10.2024

Symphony Hall Birmingham

Birmingham

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31.10.2024

Hockley Social Club

Birmingham

> more about the promoter

03.11.2024

Symphony Hall Birmingham

Birmingham

> more about the promoter

09.11.2024

NHK Hall

Tokyo

> more about the promoter

10.11.2024

Suntory Hall

Tokyo

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15.11.2024

Davies Symphony Hall

San Francisco

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16.11.2024

Davies Symphony Hall

San Francisco

> more about the promoter

Your contact persons:

General Management (except France, Italy and Russia):

Susanne Büttner

+44 20 7395 09-31

susanne.buettner@kdschmid.co.uk

General Management (except France, Italy and Russia):

Ellen Arkwright

+44 20 7395 09-37

ellen.arkwright@kdschmid.co.uk

North America:

Ann SunHyung Kim

+1 917 306 9718

ann.kim@kdschmid.com

Managing Director:

Karen McDonald

+44 20 7395 09-15

karen.mcdonald@kdschmid.co.uk

Artist Coordination:

Natalie Brown

+44 20 7395 09-22

natalie.brown@kdschmid.co.uk

Listen, See & feel the music.

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Artist Coordination:

Natalie Brown

+44 20 7395 09-22

natalie.brown@kdschmid.co.uk

Discography.

Saint-Saëns / Poulenc / Widor

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

06.2019, Pentatone, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

De Falla

05.2017, PentaTone, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Roussel, Debussy & Poulenc

08.2016, PentaTone, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Russian Dances

03.2016, PentaTone, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Strauss, Liszt, Korngold, Busoni, Schreker

05.2014, PentaTone, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

News.

Kazuki Yamada makes his debut with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

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Yamada conducts "Madam Butterfly" in Birmingham

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Kazuki Yamada and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo on Japan Tour

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Kazuki Yamada makes his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

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Kazuki Yamada takes on new title as Music Director of the CBSO

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Season 2024/2025: 6 KD SCHMID Artists with the Berliner Philharmoniker

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BBC Proms 2024 mit Seong-Jin Cho, Stefan Dohr, Tianyi Lu, John Storgårds & Kazuki Yamada

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Kazuki Yamada makes his debut with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

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Kazuki Yamada on tour with The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

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Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on tour

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Kazuki Yamada conducts Verdi’s Requiem on BBC Radio 3

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Press.

„A revolutionary of sounds and ideas, who is not yet detached from tradition.“

Rheinische Post, Wolfram Goertz, 15.03.2024

„What the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of its new chief conductor Kazuki Yamada, achieved in the sold-out Great Hall of the Alte Oper, was a true firework display of orchestral brilliance and precision.“

Frankfurter Allgemeine, Johannes Liebig, 11.03.2024

„Kazuki Yamada and the CBSO presented Berlioz’s visionary masterpiece with the greatest passion, playful boldness and interpretive sophistication that enthralled the audience in euphoria. Under Yamada’s exemplary motivating leadership, the CBSO unfolded the full range of orchestral colours and emotions, from the delicate and dreamy passages to the powerful and dramatic moments.“

Online Merker, Dirk Schauss, 10.03.2024

„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.“

Bachtrack, Robert Gainer, 02.02.2023

„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.“

Bachtrack, Mark Pullinger, 25.07.2022