Announcement of the winners of the 30rd (2022) Akio Watanabe Music Foundation Music Award and Special Award
30rd (2022) Watanabe Akio Music Foundation Music Award and Special Award Recipient
◆Music Award: Gen Ota (Conductor)
◆Special Award Taijiro Iimori (Conductor)
◆Music Award: Gen Ota (Conductor)
[Biography]
Born in Sapporo, Hokkaido in 1994. Studied cello and piano from an early age.
He graduated from the Department of Conducting, Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts with honors. He received the Ataka Award, Doseikai Award, and Wakasugi Hiroshi Memorial Fund Award from the university. He also graduated from the Master's Program in Conducting at the Graduate School of Music at the same university. In 2015, he won second place and the Audience Award at the 17th Tokyo International Music Competition (Conducting). He studied conducting under Tadaaki Otaka and Ken Takaseki. He has conducted orchestras such as the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. He served as the Principal Conductor of the Osaka Symphony Orchestra from April 2019 to March 2022. He will be appointed Conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2023. In February 2021, Octavia Records released Symphony No. 8 (9) in C major, D944, "The Great" (recorded live from a New Japan Philharmonic performance).
[Reason for award]
Gen Ota is 28 years old, born in Sapporo in 1994, and graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts. He won second place and the Audience Award at the Tokyo International Music Competition in 2015, and served as the Principal Conductor of the Osaka Symphony Orchestra for three years until March 2022. He will become the conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2023, and is scheduled to become the Principal Conductor of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in April 2024.
Ota's progress has been remarkable. For example, in his performance of "The Great" with the New Japan Philharmonic (2020), he attracted attention for his youthful and spirited performance, in his performance of "Scheherazade" with the Japan Philharmonic (2021), he drew attention for his attentive conducting, incorporating diverse variations into the repeated theme, in his performance of Mozart with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (same), he showed passionate expression that seemed to throw his entire body into the performance, and in his performance of "Rome Trilogy" with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra (same), he showed impressive "skillful way of leading the performance," maintaining the musical form firmly while building an unwavering peak.
Mr. Ota's achievements are worthy of the high expectations he has placed on him as an outstanding conductor who will lead the music world in the next generation. For this reason, we are pleased to present him with the Watanabe Akio Music Foundation Music Award, a charitable trust.
◆Special Award Taijiro Iimori (Conductor)
[Biography]
Taijiro Iimori, currently the Principal Conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra and Honorary Conductor Laureate of the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, studied at the Toho School of Music before pursuing his studies in Europe, where he served as conductor at the Mannheim State Opera and the Hamburg State Opera. In the 1990s, he resumed his activities in Japan, serving as Principal Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Artistic Director of the Opera Department at the New National Theatre, Tokyo. He has received numerous awards, including the 32nd Suntory Music Prize in 2000, the Medal with Purple Ribbon in November 2004, the 43rd Osaka City Citizen's Award in 2008, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in November 2010, the Japan Art Academy Prize in 2012, and the 56th Mainichi Art Award in 2014. He was also named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2012 and elected a member of the Japan Art Academy in December 2014.
[Reason for award]
Taijiro Iimori has previously served as principal conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, and Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as artistic director of the New National Theatre's opera department.He is currently the principal conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, and it goes without saying that he has also made numerous guest appearances with various orchestras around Japan.
Among his many years of musical activity in Japan, Iimori's achievements in opera, particularly in the performance of Wagner's stage works, are immeasurable. For example, he conducted the complete four-part "Der Ring des Nibelungen" cycle at the New National Theatre and in a semi-staged performance by the Tokyo City Philharmonic. He has also conducted numerous performances of various works, including the first Japanese performance of "Die Walküre." In particular, he is the only Japanese conductor to have conducted four highly successful performances of the epic "Parsifal" with the Kansai Nikikai Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Nikikai Orchestra, and the New National Theatre.
In recognition of his immortal achievements in the history of Wagner performances in Japan, including his outstanding contributions to the orchestral world, we are pleased to present him with the Watanabe Akio Music Fund Special Award.
List of Watanabe Akeo Music Fund Awardees
1st (1993) Music Award: Kazushi Ono Special Award: Sennosuke Enmei
2nd (1994) Music Award: Junichi Hirokami Special Award: Chiaki Murakawa
3rd (1995) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Takashi Ogawa, Seizo Suzuki, Jun Tanaka
4th (1996) Music Award: Ken Takaseki Special Award: No recipient
5th (1997) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Keizo Saji
6th (1998) Music Award: Kim Hong-jae Special Award: Ishimaru Hiroshi
7th (1999) Music Award: Ryusuke Numajiri Special Award: Chiyoshige Matsubara
8th (2000) Music Award: Naoto Otomo Special Award: Minoru Nagaoka, Toshiya Eto
9th (2001) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: No recipients
10th (2002) Music Award: Tatsuya Shimono, Yukio Fujioka Special Award: Shoji Uehara
11th (2003) Music Award: Yutaka Sado Special Award: Masaharu Watanabe, Naozumi Yamamoto
12th (2004) Music Award: Tetsuro Saka Special Award: Akira Miyoshi
13th (2005) Music Award: Norichika Iimori Special Award: Tsuzo Kusakari
14th (2006) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Shigeto Kanayama, Hiroshi Okawauchi
15th (2007) Music Award: Toshiyuki Ueoka Special Award: Shoji Onodera, Japan Philharmonic Kyushu Performance Liaison Committee (Group)
16th (2008) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Hiroyuki Iwaki
17th (2009) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Jean Fournet, Affinis Cultural Foundation
18th (2010) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Hiroshi Wakasugi, Museum of Modern Japanese Music
19th (2011) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Seiji Ozawa Special Support: Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra
20th (2012) Music Award: Kazuki Yamada Special Award: Yasuo Nakafuji
21st (2013) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Nagata Ho
22nd (2014) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Kodama Koji
23rd (2015) Music Award: Kentaro Kawase Special Award: Hubert Soudant, Kazuyoshi Akiyama
24th (2016) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Alexander Lazarev, Shinichiro Ikebe, Michiyoshi Inoue
25th (2017) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Yuzo Toyama, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi
26th (2018) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Eliahu Inbal
27th (2019) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Honna Tetsuji, Yamada Masayuki
28th (2020) Music Award: Nodoka Okisawa Special Award: Yasuhisa Toyoda
29th (2021) Music Award: Masato Suzuki and Keitaro Harada Special Award: No recipients
30th (2022) Music Award: Gen Ota Special Award: Taijiro Iimori
