The Japanese conductor, Shuntaro Sato, studied violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he formed an orchestra and conducted all of L.v. Beethoven's symphonies. As a conductor, his teachers included Diego Masson and Geraint Jones, and Lawrence Leonard.
In 1996, at the age of twenty-three, Shuntaro Sato was appointed Associate Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra after a highly successful debut at London's Barbican Centre. He has since conducted the orchestra throughout Europe and the UK with soloists such as Nigel Kennedy, Pinchas Zukerman, Anne Akiko Meyers, Tasmin Little, Sarah Chang, Augustin Dumay, Gerard Caussé, Raphael Wallfisch, Julian Lloyd Webber, Peter Donohoe, Emma Johnson, William Bennett, Lesley Garrett, Magdalena Kožená and Andrea Bocelli. In addition to this he has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra in each of the last four seasons. He made his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1999, which has since invited him every year.
Shuntaro Sato then took Finland by storm - he made a highly successful debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998 and has also conducted the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Avanti! Chamber Orchestra among others. In January 2000 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland and from October 2002 to July 2003 he was the orchestra's Principal Conductor, working with distinguished soloists such as Dmitri Alexeev, Barbara Hendricks, Cristina Ortiz and Gyorgy Pauk.
Shuntaro Sato has conducted many orchestras in his native Japan, including the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Gunma Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and Japan Chamber Orchestra.
Shuntaro Sato made his USA debut with the Boston Chamber Orchestra and was subsequently invited to be a guest conductor at the Tanglewood summer season.
Shuntaro Sato has made recordings with both of the English Chamber Orchestra (first recording in 1998) and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra. In Japan he broadcast on NHK television. A performance of Das Lied von der Erde was broadcast on NHL television and he has broadcast many times on radio. |