Kazuhiko KOMATSU, conductor (Japan)

Graduated from the conducting Department of the Toho Gakuen College in 1972. Studied under Hideo Saito. A conducting intern with the NHK Symphony, as well as the associate conductor of the Rhine Germany opera House in West Germany, in 1982 he took up the post of the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra's first regular conductor. In 1984, he was awarded the Osaka Fumin Hall Encouragement Award.
In July of 1978, formally debuting with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, he now has a well-established reputation for his work with operas and the premiers of modern works; he received the Italian Broadcast Association Award for conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra in the music fantasy "Mogari Flute". Recently he has come to be acclaimed abroad as well. He was chosen to conduct Russia's famous Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Symphony Orchestra on its Japan Tour in 1994 and 1997, both of which ended in great success. Since he has enjoyed performing with the orchestra in St. Petersburg as a guest conductor. In addition, Kazuhiko Komatsu has recently performed with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Slovakia Philharmonic, and Turkey's President Philharmonic, Norway's Bergen Philharmonic, all to great acclaim.
Komatsu has also held a series of consecutive conducting posts: from 1989 he has been the exclusive conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, and from 1991 he has been the head guest conductor of the Osaka Sinfonica.