Shuntaro Sato
In 1996, at the age of twenty-three, Shuntaro Sato was appointed Associate Conductor of the English
Chamber Orchestra (ECO) after a highly successful début at London’s Barbican Centre. He has since conducted the orchestra in more than 50 concerts: on tours to Germany, France, Italy, Austria, and Turkey as well as in the UK’s leading venues such as Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Manchester Bridgewater Hall. He made his first recording with the orchestra in 1998: Flute concertos by Nielsen and Reinecke with William Bennett, the principal Flutist of the ECO.
In the UK, in addition to his work with the ECO, he has worked regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra since 1998, having a tour in England in January 2001. In July 2006, he had a tour in England with the Philharmonia Orchestra, with whom he has worked every year since 1999.
Shuntaro Sato made a highly successful début with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998, which led to concerts with practically all orchestras in Finland, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti and Tapiola Sinfonietta.
In January 2000 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland and from October 2002 to July 2003 he was the Principal Conductor. Recordings with the orchestra include Northern Pictures-Finnish Orchestral Music in 2001 and Wood Nymph-Orchestral Music of Jean Sibelius in 2002, for Warner/Finlandia.
Shuntaro Sato has conducted many orchestras in his native Japan since 1998, including the Kyoto Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Japan Philharmonic and New Japan Philharmonic Orchestras. A performance of Das Lied von der Erde (a version for chamber ensemble by Schoenberg) with Mitsuko Shirai and Christiph Pregardien with the Japan Chamber Orchestra was broadcast on NHK television in 1998.
He made his US début with the Boston Chamber Orchestra in 1997 and was subsequently invited to be a guest conductor at the Tanglewood Festival. He made his début in the Netherlands in 2002 with the Radio Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands. This was followed by his Spanish début where he conducted the Orquesta Pablo Sarasate in Pamplona.
He has worked with a number of distinguished soloists such as Pinchas Zukerman, Gyorgy Pauk, Augustin Dumay, Sarah Chang, Nigel Kennedy, Anne Akiko Meyers, Tasmin Little, Gerard Caussé, Mischa Maisky, Raphael Wallfisch, Julian Lloyd Webber, Cristina Ortiz, Peter Donohoe, Emma Johnson, Barbara Hendricks, Magdalena Kozena, Thomas Allen, Lesley Garrett and Andrea Bochelli.
Born in Japan in 1972, Shuntaro Sato read Politics at the University of London and later studied violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he formed an orchestra and conducted all of Beethoven’s symphonies. As a conductor, his teachers have included Diego Masson, Geraint Jones, Lawrence Leonard and Janos Furst.
In 2003, he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), which is offered to past students of the RAM who have achieved distinction in their profession.
In 2006, a recording of Bach and Mozart Arias with Hyunah Yu and Prague Philharmonia was released by EMI.
