Kazuki  Yamada

was born in Kanagawa, Japan, in 1979. As a student, he formed Yokohama Sinfonietta, where he remains Music Director. He was awarded the Ataka-Prize in 2001 when he graduated from the conducting course at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music. He also studied under Gerhard Markson at the Mozarteum Salzburg in 2002. In September 2009, he was the winner of the 51st Besancon International Competition for young conductors, receiving the Audience Award as well as the Grand Prize. In 2011 he received the Idemitsu Music Prize for young artists in Japan.

His repertoire includes all symphonies of Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Borodin and soloists with whom he is working include Lisa Batiashvili, Boris Berezovsky, Leon Fleischer, Noboku Imai, Janine Jansen, Daniel Müller-Schott, Vadim Repin, Fazil Say, Baiba Skride and Jean-Yves Thibaudet

In the 2011/2012 season he has been announced as Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, starting in the 2012/2013 season. He also appears for the first time with Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Dresdner Philharmonie, Orquestra Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony and Malmö Symphony Orchestra.

In Japan, Yamada holds the position of Associate Conductor with NHK Symphony Orchestra. He also appears regularly with Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. In March 2010, he stepped in for an indisposed Seiji Ozawa with Ensemble Orchestral Kanazawa, and was subsequently given the title of ‘Music Partner’. Passionate about choral repertoire, he is Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus’s Residential Conductor. The group has released four CDs with Yamada (on Fontec Inc).