Masaaki Suzuki

born in 1954 in Kobe, Honshu, Japan

Masaaki Suzuki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Masaaki Suzuki ( Suzuki Masaaki?, born 29 April 1954) is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan.

He was born in Kobe to parents who were both Christians and amateur musicians. He studied composition and organ at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and was later taught harpsichord and organ by Ton Koopman and Piet Kee and improvisation by Klaas Bolt at the Sweelink Conservatory in Amsterdam.[1]

In 1983 he began teaching at Kobe Shoin Women's University, and founded Bach Collegium Japan, a baroque orchestra and chorus, in 1990. The group began giving concerts regularly in 1992, and made its first recordings three years later, when they began recording Bach's complete cantatas for the Swedish label BIS Records. They completed the church cantatas in 2013, but are still working on secular cantatas.

He is also currently recording Bach's complete works for harpsichord and is one of the few keyboard players to have recorded all four books of Bach's Clavier-Übung (including book 3, which is for organ).

He was a professor of organ and harpsichord at the Tokyo University of the Arts. As of July 1, 2009, Mr. Suzuki is Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting and conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum in a joint appointment between the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music.

Suzuki was awarded the 2012 Bach Prize, awarded by the Royal Academy of Music and sponsored by the Kohn Foundation.[2]

References

  1. Masakata Kanazawa: "Suzuki, Masaaki", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 15 January 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
  2. Unknown (January 20, 2012). Masaaki Suzuki awarded Bach Prize. Royal Academy of Music. Retrieved on 22 February 2012.

Sources

  • Notes to performance of Bach's Mass in B minor at the Barbican, London, 30 May 2006.

External links

This page was last modified 25.02.2014 07:31:56

This article uses material from the article Masaaki Suzuki from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.