Page 33 - FINAL_CBSO Media Highlights - Sept 2021 - Jan 2022_Neat

22 September 2021

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has announced that Kazuki Yamada has
been named as their next Chief Conductor. Yamada will succeed Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla in
April of 2023.

For the last three years, Yamada has served as CBSO’s principal guest conductor; he
came to international exposure when he won the Besancon international competition
for young conductors, gaining performance opportunities in Europe and debuting the
with BBC Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he is the principal guest conductor and
artistic director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and is a permanent
conductor of Japan Philharmonic, as well as music director of the Philharmonic Chorus
of Tokyo. He has appeared with companies such as Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden,
Orchestre de Paris, Bergen Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra.

“On his debut with the orchestra back in 2012 he made a very strong impression” said
CBSO’s chief executive Stephen Maddock. “His technique is fabulous, he’s incredibly
clear, he has a tremendously wide repertoire. He’s a really, really fine musician… In
rehearsal, he has a laser-like ability to focus on what is the most important thing to get
right. The players like that he is demanding, but it’s from a position of good grace,
humor, and respect.”

One of his first endeavors will be to take CBSO on tour in Japan. A Proms debut is also
set for 2023, with Yamada hoping to introduce audiences to Japanese composers such
as Toru Takemitsu, Akira Miyoshi, and Toshiro Mayuzumi, as well as perform some of
Mozart’s symphonic works that are not often played by larger symphonic orchestras.