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The Japanese bass-baritone, Yasushi Hirano, studied at the Vienna University for Music and Arts, and with Rotraud Hansmann and Robert Holl, amongst others.
Yasushi Hirano's first engagements took him to the German Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and to the Salzburg Festival for the world premiere of Henze’s The Betrayed Sea in 2006. During the 2007-2008 season, he was engaged as an ensemble member at Graz Opera; in 2008-2009 the Vienna Volksoper became his new home base. There, he sings a broad repertoire of operas by W.A. Mozart, L.v. Beethoven, Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Borodin. For several years he has appeared as a guest at the NNT Tokyo. Also, he performs regularly at Austrian festivals including Styriarte Graz, where he sang in two opera productions conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, at the Bregenz Festival and at another popular open-air festival at the medieval castle Burg Gars.
Apart from opera, Yasushi Hirano likes to sing sacred music by J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, L.v. Beethoven and Haydn. Such concerts have taken him to Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Japan and Germany. In addition, he is much sought-after recitalist. Often, his programs are dedicated to songs by Schubert, Robert Schumann and Gustav Mahler and accompanied by his wife, Sayuri Matsuda-Hirano (they got married on July 7, 2008).
In 2017-2018 season, Yasushi Hirano sang Père Laurence in Volksoper Vienna’s new production of Roméo et Juliette composed by Berlioz, and Water Sprite of the repeat performances of Rusalka, Zuniga in Georges Bizet's Carmen on the lake stage of the Bregenz Festival, and as a soloist in J. Brahms' German Requiem at golden hall of Musikverein Vienna. In June 2018, he sang King René in Iolanta in the opening concert of the Russian Year and the Russian Culture Festival in Japan at Suntory Hall, Tokyo, performed by the Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev. He currently lives in Vienna, Austria. |
