Promenade Concert No.412
Venue: Suntory Hall Venue Info Seat
Nodoka OKISAWA, Conductor
Frank BRALEY & Keigo MUKAWA, Piano
Nodoka OKISAWA (Conductor)
Nodoka Okisawa has been appointed as the 14th Chief Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. During her initial three-year term which began in April 2023, she will lead the renowned Japanese orchestra in subscription, education and family concerts.
Nodoka is the winner of the prestigious Concours international de jeunes chefs d'orchestre de Besançon 2019, where she was awarded the Grand Prix, the Orchestra Prize and the Audience Prize. Furthermore, in 2018 she won the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting, one of the most important international conducting competitions.
From 2020 to 2022, Nodoka Okisawa held a scholarship at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and was also assistant to Kirill Petrenko. In addition to her own concert projects together with the academy members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, she also conducted the Solidarity Concert for Ukraine in March 2022 with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the invitation of the Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Another highlight was the joint anniversary concert with Kirill Petrenko to mark the 50th anniversary of the Karajan Academy in May 2022.
In the 2023/24 season, Nodoka Okisawa makes her debut with the Kammerorchester Basel, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, among others. She will also make her subscription debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo and returns to the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Münchener Symphoniker, where she was Artist in Residence during the 2022/23 season.
She is a regular guest with leading orchestras in Japan, including the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa. At the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival 2022, the 30th anniversary edition of the festival, Nodoka Okisawa made her debut with the Saito Kinen Orchestra conducting Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" in a production by Laurent Pelly.
Okisawa attended numerous masterclasses, including with Neeme and Paavo Järvi and Kurt Masur. In 2019 she was selected for the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy in Tokyo. She has gained further experience in the past as assistant conductor of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and in opera productions in Japan and Europe.
In November 2020, she conducted a production of Lehár's "The Merry Widow" at the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre.
In 2023, Nodoka Okisawa was awarded the "Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award" by the Sony Music Foundation.
Born in Aomori, Japan, she learned to play the piano, cello and oboe from an early age. She studied conducting at the Tokyo University of the Arts with Ken Takaseki and Tadaaki Otaka and graduated with a master’s degree.
In 2019 she obtained her second master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin under Christian Ehwald and Hans-Dieter Baum. Nodoka Okisawa lives in Berlin.
photo ©Felix Broede
Nodoka is the winner of the prestigious Concours international de jeunes chefs d'orchestre de Besançon 2019, where she was awarded the Grand Prix, the Orchestra Prize and the Audience Prize. Furthermore, in 2018 she won the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting, one of the most important international conducting competitions.
From 2020 to 2022, Nodoka Okisawa held a scholarship at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and was also assistant to Kirill Petrenko. In addition to her own concert projects together with the academy members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, she also conducted the Solidarity Concert for Ukraine in March 2022 with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the invitation of the Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Another highlight was the joint anniversary concert with Kirill Petrenko to mark the 50th anniversary of the Karajan Academy in May 2022.
In the 2023/24 season, Nodoka Okisawa makes her debut with the Kammerorchester Basel, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, among others. She will also make her subscription debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo and returns to the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Münchener Symphoniker, where she was Artist in Residence during the 2022/23 season.
She is a regular guest with leading orchestras in Japan, including the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa. At the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival 2022, the 30th anniversary edition of the festival, Nodoka Okisawa made her debut with the Saito Kinen Orchestra conducting Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" in a production by Laurent Pelly.
Okisawa attended numerous masterclasses, including with Neeme and Paavo Järvi and Kurt Masur. In 2019 she was selected for the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy in Tokyo. She has gained further experience in the past as assistant conductor of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and in opera productions in Japan and Europe.
In November 2020, she conducted a production of Lehár's "The Merry Widow" at the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre.
In 2023, Nodoka Okisawa was awarded the "Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award" by the Sony Music Foundation.
Born in Aomori, Japan, she learned to play the piano, cello and oboe from an early age. She studied conducting at the Tokyo University of the Arts with Ken Takaseki and Tadaaki Otaka and graduated with a master’s degree.
In 2019 she obtained her second master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin under Christian Ehwald and Hans-Dieter Baum. Nodoka Okisawa lives in Berlin.
photo ©Felix Broede
Frank BRALEY (Piano)
Frank Braley is considered today one of the best French pianists with musical maturity and clarity.
Began studying the piano at the age of four, six years later he gave his first concert with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris. He entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and three years later he was awarded unanimously first prizes for piano and chamber music. In 1991, he won the First Grand Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition of Belgium.
Since then, Frank Braley has been regularly invited to Japan, China, Canada, the United States, and all over Europe, to play with world leading orchestras under prestigious conductors.
He also gave actively recitals and chamber music concerts, and often played with R. and G. Capuçon, Pires, Le Sage, Pahud, Maisky, and more.
Frank Braley is teacher at the Paris Conservatory and was the Music Director of the Belgium Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie from 2014 to 2021.
photo ©Warner Capucon
Began studying the piano at the age of four, six years later he gave his first concert with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris. He entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and three years later he was awarded unanimously first prizes for piano and chamber music. In 1991, he won the First Grand Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition of Belgium.
Since then, Frank Braley has been regularly invited to Japan, China, Canada, the United States, and all over Europe, to play with world leading orchestras under prestigious conductors.
He also gave actively recitals and chamber music concerts, and often played with R. and G. Capuçon, Pires, Le Sage, Pahud, Maisky, and more.
Frank Braley is teacher at the Paris Conservatory and was the Music Director of the Belgium Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie from 2014 to 2021.
photo ©Warner Capucon
Keigo MUKAWA (Piano)
In 2021, he won third prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, one of the most prestigious competitions in the world, and in 2019, the second prize at the Long-Thibaud-Crespin International Competition, the most prestigious competition in France. Having received much attention winning top prizes in two international competitions with a long history and tradition, he is currently performing in a wide range of activities including solo recitals, performances with orchestra, and chamber music,based in Japan and France.
His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music, and he is known for his pursuit of the stylistic beauty of each period and composer, as well as his versatile tone quality. Not only the modern piano but he is also engaged in researching techniques for the fortepiano.
After graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts, he moved to France in 2014 after being accepted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with unanimous top honors by the jury.
His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music, and he is known for his pursuit of the stylistic beauty of each period and composer, as well as his versatile tone quality. Not only the modern piano but he is also engaged in researching techniques for the fortepiano.
After graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts, he moved to France in 2014 after being accepted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with unanimous top honors by the jury.
