Seikyo Kim / Conductor
Japanese
(c)Eisuke Miyoshi2010/11 will be Seikyo Kim’s first season as Principal Conductor of the Symfonieorkest van Vlaanderen (Flanders Symphony Orchestra) in Bruges, Belgium. One of Japan’s leading young conductors, Seikyo Kim also enters the second season of his tenures as Principal Conductor of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra in Yokohama, and Artistic Partner of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa.
Recent and future highlights among Seikyo Kim’s guest conductor engagements include the NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic, Osaka Century Orchestra and the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz.
His recent cycles of the Brahms and Beethoven symphonies with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, which have also been committed to disc, have attracted unprecedented acclaim in Japanese music press.
Osaka-born Seikyo Kim moved to the USA at the age of 14. He trained at the New England Conservatory in Boston and then went on to study with Seiji Ozawa in Tanglewood and Leopold Hager at the Musikhoschule in Vienna. He gave his debut in 1997 with the Osaka Symphony and was the 1998 winner of the prestigious International Nicolai Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen. Seikyo Kim now lives in Tokyo.
His fascination for historically-informed performances led him to become a pioneer of this style in his native country, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Roger Norrington being particularly strong influences. This approach informs his work in repertoire ranging form Mozart through to Brahms, Mahler and Shostakovich.
Seikyo Kim’s discography is available on Avex, Warner Classics Japan and Onyx. His most recent release, Benjamin Britten’s Cello Symphony with Pieter Wispelwey and the Symphonieorkest van Vlaanderen, as attracted unanimous praise in the British music press. Other recent releases include Beethoven’s symphonies no. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 as well as Brahms’s symphonies no. 1, 2, 3 and 4. These will eventually complete symphony cycles on CD with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa.