Artistic Director: Biwako Hall
Principal Guest Conductor: Century Orchestra Osaka

Ryusuke Numajiri received his musical education at the prestigious Toho Gakuen School of Music studying piano and conducting, the latter under Seiji Ozawa and Tadaaki Otaka. Prior to his departure to Europe to further his studies at the Berlin University of Fine Arts and Music, and while still a student, he acted as assistant to Seiji Ozawa at the New Japan Philharmonic.

On his return to Japan, Mr. Numajiri quickly became one of the country's most sought after conductors. From 1993 to 1998, he was the youngest-ever Chief Conductor of the Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra, leading them on a most successful European tour in 1995. In the same year, he founded the Tokyo Mozart Players with whom he has recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies. After having been the Principal Conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1999 to 2003, he was named Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, posts he has held since 2003. From April 2007 he has become Artistic Director of the Biwako Hall in Japan. Furthermore he just designated as Principal Guest Conductor of Century Orchestra Osaka from April 2008. Among Mr. Numajiri's recent performances is a masterly account of Schönberg's Gurrelieder at the 2005 World Expo in Nagoya .

Ryusuke Numajiri was catapulted to the forefront of attention in the occidental music world when he won the 40 th Besançon International Conducting Competition in 1990. He has since been invited to lead many of the world's foremost orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Staatskapelle Weimar, Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Northern Sinfonia.

Ryusuke Numajiri has a particular interest in introducing hitherto unfamiliar repertoire to audiences. This passion has led him to conduct the Japan premieres of Philip Glass' Peace Symphony, Busoni's Piano Concerto and Doktor Faustus, Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg, Schönberg's Notturno, Toru Takemitsu's Spectral Canticle, as well as works by Messiaen, Andriessen, Gó'recki, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Berio, Dutilleux, Xenakis, Birtwistle, Matthews and Ichiro Nodaira; earning the praise of each composer for his “ impeccable understanding” of their works.His tour with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004, bringing Takemitsu's Ceremonial and Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony to European audiences, received great critical acclaim.

Since making his debut as an opera conductor in 1997 with Mozart ' s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mr. Numajiri has gone on to lead various productions including Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, Zemlinsky's Eine florentinische Tragödie, Mozart's Idomeneo, Britten's The Little Sweep, Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, Berg's Lulu and Krenek's Jonny spielt auf at the Cologne Opera House. In 2007 he will give his debut at the Munich State Opera with the new production of ballets with Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and John Adams' Chamber Symphony.

Recent engagement highlights in Japan have included concerts with the NHK Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony etc. He also conducted Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg at the Biwako Hall and Le Nozze di Figaro at the New National Theatre Tokyo. In February 2008, he conducted a new production of R. Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier with Andreas Homoki as stage director at the Biwako Hall and was highly acclaimed.

His discography includes the Gubaidulina Concerto for Cello with the London Symphony Orchestra and Mstislav Rostropovich for EMI Classics and works by Toru Takemitsu with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra for Denon (3CDs), Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony with the Japan Philharmonic Symphony for Exton and Japanese Orchestral Favourites with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra for Naxos .

Ryusuke Numajiri currently lives in Tokyo and Berlin.