©Photo: Marco Borggreve

Masato Suzuki

Conductor / Harpsichord / Composer / Organ

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“[Suzuki’s] phrases are stunningly articulated, teeming with nuance and character. The section in the relative minor is particularly delightful … Suzuki handles this phrase, which in this arrangement could easily become a demonstration of moto perpetuo drill, with the subtle shaping and minutiae of timing and touch that are the hallmarks of a master harpsichordist.”
(Gramophone Magazine, October 2019)

Principal Conductor: Bach Collegium Japan
Executive Producer: Chofu International Music Festival
Associate Conductor & Creative Partner: Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
Music Director: Ensemble Genesis

A multifaceted musician, Masato Suzuki appears on the concert platform in the capacity of conductor, composer and keyboard player.

On the conducting podium, this season sees Suzuki return to both the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras as well as making his debut as a conductor with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, having performed Copland’s Symphony for Organ and Orchestra with them last season. In addition, Suzuki works with orchestras including the Japan Philharmonic, Sendai Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic, as well as the Hiroshima Symphony, Ensemble Kanazawa and Kyushu Symphony Orchestras. His repertoire is varied with many programmes featuring contrasting composers including works by Bach, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Rameau, Stravinsky and Takemitsu.

As Principal Conductor of Bach Collegium Japan, Suzuki made his subscription series conducting debut with the ensemble directing Bach’s St John Passion and Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea; on tour, he has taken them to the Thüringen Bachwochen and last season to the Varazdin Baroque Festival. December 2019 sees BIS release the first disc of the complete Bach Harpsichord concerti Suzuki has recorded with Bach Collegium Japan leading from the keyboard.

Suzuki makes his conducting debut with the Singapore Symphony and the Academy of Ancient Music in London this season following his debut at the Edinburgh Festival with musicians from the Dunedin Consort. Other festival appearances as a recitalist and chamber musician include the Chofu International Music Festival (of which he is Artistic Director and Executive Producer), Schleswig Holstein and Verbier. He continues a collaboration with violist Antoine Tamestit touring an all Bach programme centred on the three viola da gamba sonatas; their recording of these works was released by Harmonia Mundi in August 2019.

Suzuki’s composition portfolio includes works for both instrumental ensembles and choir; his work is published by Schott Japan and he has received recent commissions from Sette Voci, Tokyo Musik Kreis and Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall among others. Suzuki’s reconstruction of lost movements of J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV190 (Carus) and his completion and revision of Mozart’s Requiem have been highly praised.

Suzuki studied Composition and Early Music at the Tokyo University for Fine Arts and Music before studying Organ and Improvisation at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

Bach - WTC I Prelude and fugue in C minor BWV 847 - Suzuki | Netherlands Bach Society © Netherlands Bach Society

Antoine Tamestit and Masato Suzuki - Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord - VF 2019 © Verbier Festival & Medici.tv

“It wasn’t just [Leo] Duarte who shone, in the first-half cantata sinfonias, but also [Masato Suzuki] in a surprising manifestation of what we know best as the outer movements of the D minor Harpsichord Concerto. As sinfonias for two more cantatas, they sounded startlingly different in the collaboration between the players and the conductor at the chamber organ, a virtuosic tour de force which twice stole the show.”

(The Art Desk, January 2020)

“[Suzuki’s] phrases are stunningly articulated, teeming with nuance and character. The section in the relative minor is particularly delightful … Suzuki handles this phrase, which in this arrangement could easily become a demonstration of moto perpetuo drill, with the subtle shaping and minutiae of timing and touch that are the hallmarks of a master harpsichordist.”

(Gramophone Magazine, October 2019)

“Tamestit and his partner Masato Suzuki achieve a communicative and spontaneous rapport … a fascinating adjunct to the programme is their arrangement for viola and harpsichord of the fervent tenor aria with viola obbligato – an almost unique occurrence of the instrument in this role in Bach’s cantatas – from “Wo soll ich flienhen hin?” (BWV5).”

(BBC Music Magazine, October 2019)

“With the harpsichordist Masato Suzuki, Antoine Tamestit gives Bach’s three viola da gamba sonatas on his 1672 Stradivarius viola, albeit using a baroque bow and tuning to baroque pitch. The contrast with the thinnish sonorities of the fretted, six-stringed viola da gamba is stark, Tamestit producing a luscious array of velvety colours and luxuriant phrasing. Heresy, some might say, but it works beautifully.”

(The Sunday Times, August 2019)

“Suzuki’s hands moved seamlessly between the two manuals adding to the drama of this richly scored work. The accompanying period instruments produced a lively orchestral sound centred around the dynamic viola interactions with the harpsichord … Suzuki took full advantage of the opportunity to show off the full extent of the Taskin’s bright tonal colours with his dazzling account of Bach’s virtuosic Italian Concerto for solo harpsichord.”

(The Scotsman, August 2019)