ARTISTS

Originally from Tokyo, Keiko Mitsuhashi graduated from the Tokyo National University of the Arts and completed her master’s course there. She refined her skill at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Vienna, Austria) and the Accademia Chigiana (Siena, Italy). Trained by Seiji Ozawa, Ken’ichiro Kobayashi, G. Gelmetti, E. Accel, H-M. Schneitt, Yuji Yuasa, Yoko Matsuo and Masamitsu Takahashi, Mitsuhashi was the first Japanese winner of the 10th Antonio Pedrotti International Conducting Competition and the first woman who became a prize winner at the 9th Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition receiving the second prize along with the Audience Award. Recipient of the 12th Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award, she has led, as a guest conductor, major orchestras inside her country. European leading orchestras have invited her as well for their subscription concerts, most notably the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Slovak Philharmonic and the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento. In 2009, the Newsweek Japan selected her as one of the “100 Japanese People the World Respects.” In 2016, Mitsuhashi led the opera “Jr. Butterfly” composed by Shigeaki Saegusa. She also co-conducted along with Tan Dun, the Toru Takemitsu piece, “Gémeaux for soloists, two orchestras and two conductors” which was successfully performed for Suntory Hall’s 30th anniversary concert series retracing the works commissioned by the "Suntory Hall International Program for Music Composition". Mitsuhashi is currently based in Venice.