KAJIMOTO Welcomes Conductor Kensho Watanabe KAJIMOTO Welcomes Conductor Kensho Watanabe

KAJIMOTO is pleased to welcome Japanese-American conductor Kensho Watanabe to the roster.

Born in Yokohama, Japan, Watanabe moved to the USA with his Japanese parents in his childhood. An accomplished violinist, he received his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music before becoming the inaugural conducting fellow of the Curtis Institute of Music from 2013 to 2015, studying with his longtime mentor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Recent highlights include returns to the Metropolitan Opera (La bohème, Champion, The Hours), Detroit Opera (Madame Butterfly) as well as his debut at the Suntory Hall with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has led world-class ensembles, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic and Opera Theatre St Louis (Don Pasquale) as part of their 50th anniversary season.

Other symphonic highlights include his debuts with the London Philharmonic and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. He has also enjoyed collaborations with the Houston and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, Brussels Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTE Concert Orchestra and at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.
He is also a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with distinguished conducting pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller. Additionally, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Yale, where he studied molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

He is currently based in Paris.

Kensho Watanabe Official Website:
https://www.kenshowatanabe.com