Hiroshi Wakasugi
Hiroshi Wakasugi ( Japanese 若 杉 弘 , Wakasugi Hiroshi ; born May 31, 1935 in New York , † July 21, 2009 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese conductor . Wakasugi performed many of the most important European operas for the first time in Japan and has received several awards for them.
Life
His father was the Japanese consul general in New York. Wakasugi studied music at the (central) state Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku ( English Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music ) with Hideo Saitō and Norbert Kaneko after dropping out of the economics faculty of Keiō University . Upon graduation, he was appointed Research Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Japan). From 1965 he directed the Yomiuri Nippon Kōkyō Gakudan, the " Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra ", Tokyo, and developed it into one of the leading orchestras in Japan. For its world premiere of Penderecki's Lukas Passion , he was awarded the "Culture Recommendation Prize of the Minister of Culture " ( 芸 術 選 奨 文 部 大臣 賞 , Geijutsu-senshō-mombudaijin-shō, National Arts Festival Prize ) by the cultural authority in 1968 . He founded the Tokyo Chamber Opera Theater in 1969 .
In addition to several leading international orchestras, Wakasugi was chief conductor of the WDR symphony orchestra in Cologne from 1977 to 1983 , general music director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf from 1981 to 1986 , and chief conductor of the Tonhalle orchestra in Zurich from 1987 to 1991 . From 1982 to 1992 he was also permanent conductor of the Semperoper Dresden and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden .
He was also music director and permanent conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra from 1986 to 1995 . In 1992 he was awarded the Asahi Prize for his achievements and the work with which he represented Japan as an international conductor. Also in 1992 he was awarded the Japanese Academy of Arts Prize . In the spring of 1995 he was appointed permanent conductor of the NHK symphony orchestra.
Wakasugi was awarded the Suntory Music Prize ( Suntory-ongaku-shō ) in 1986 .
In 2005 he was appointed artistic advisor to the opera department of the New National Theater Tokyo and in September 2007 its artistic director (i.e. music director). At the time of his death in 2009, he was artistic director of the Biwako Opera Theater and the Tokyo Chamber Opera Theater .
Hiroshi Wakasugi had a chair at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and the Toho Gakuen College of Music (Toho Gakuen School of Music) held. He was a member of the Japanese Academy of Arts .
Web links
Friedrich Hegar (1868–1906) | Volkmar Andreae (1906–1949) | Erich Schmid (1949–1957) | Hans Rosbaud (1957–1962) | Rudolf Kempe (1965–1972) | Gerd Albrecht (1975–1980) | Christoph Eschenbach (1982–1986) | Hiroshi Wakasugi (1987-1991) | Claus Peter Flor (vacant 1991–1995, permanent guest conductor) | David Zinman (1995-2014) | Lionel Bringuier (2014-2018)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wakasugi, Hiroshi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 若 杉 弘 (Japanese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese conductor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 31, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | new York |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 21, 2009 |
| Place of death | Tokyo |