Kazushi Ono

Kazushi Ono’s musical personality was formed by the cultures of both Japan, where he was born, and Europe, where he studied. His work reflects both influences and crosses styles and forms, from Baroque to new commissions and from orchestral to opera. He has worked in opera houses and concert halls all over the world and recently took over as Music Director of Brussels Philharmonic, while also serving as Music Director of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (TMSO) and Artistic Director of New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT).

He is passionate about new music and has commissioned many works and projects, such as Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Hibiki, which premiered at Suntory Hall before featuring at the 2017 BBC Proms. He instigated NNTT’s first commissioning scheme, dedicated to Japanese composers, which has so far included operas Asters by Akira Nishimura (2019) and Dai Fujikura’s A Dream of Armageddon, which premiered in Tokyo in November 2020.

Ono established himself internationally with orchestras such as London Symphony Orchestra, CBSO, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Houston Symphony Orchestra, where his performance of Russian repertoire was described by the Houston Chronicle as ‘a first-rate concert steeped in stormy emotions, fragile beauty, and wide- screen grandeur’.

Appointments

• Music Director, Brussels Philharmonic
• Music Director, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
• Artistic Director, New National Theatre Tokyo