Born in Kagoshima in 1969, Tatsuya Shimono cemented his international reputation as a conductor by winning the First Prize at the 47th Besançon International Competition in 2001. Since then he has guest conducted major orchestras in Japan and abroad. He received great acclaim for his debuts in subscription concerts with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale de Santa Cecilia and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009, and following on that in March 2010, he made his debut with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006 he was appointed Resident Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his work with this orchestra he also regularly conducts all the major Japanese orchestras. Shimono’s opera conducting has included Die Zauberflote, Hansel und Gretel, and The Merry Widow at Nikikai Opera, Medea and Hansel and Gretel at the Nissay Theatre and La Forza del Destino at the Japan Metropolitan Opera. He has been invited to a plethora of music festivals, including the Affinis Music Festival, the Kirishima International Music Festival, the Miyazaki Music Festival, and the Beppu Argerich Music Festival. He was resident conductor at the 2010 Saito Kinen Festival that included conducting four concerts with the Saito Kinen Orchestra. Following on from this he made his North American debut on its trip to Carnegie Hall.

Contemporary music forms an important part of Shimono’s career, conducting repertoire across the spectrum including Ades, Cage, Glass, Gruber HK, Messiaen and Takemitsu.

Tatsuya Shimono’s recordings include Strauss Ein Heldenleben with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Bruckner Symphony in D minor (No. 0) with the Osaka Symphony.

In Japan Shimono is involved in a many educational activities. In 2007 he joined the music faculty at Ueno Gakuen.

Tatsuya Shimono received the Idemitsu Music Award and the Akeo Watanabe Music Foundation Award in 2002, the 17th Nippon Steel Music Award (New Artist Award) in 2006, and the 6th Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award in 2007.

May 2013