Masaaki Suzuki

Since founding the Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained music director of the BCJ ever since, taking it regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA. In addition to working with renowned period ensembles, he conducts orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in repertoire ranging from Mendelssohn to Stravinsky.

Suzuki’s impressive discography on the BIS label, featuring Bach’s choral works as well as harpsichord and organ recitals, has brought him many critical plaudits. With the BCJ he is now extending the ensemble’s repertoire with recordings of Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C minor, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony.

Born in Kobe, Masaaki Suzuki graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts and Music and went on to study at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam under Ton Koopman and Piet Kee. Founder and professor emeritus of the early music department at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he was on the faculty at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music from 2009 until 2013, and remains affiliated as the principal guest conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum.

In 2012 Masaaki Suzuki was awarded with the Leipzig Bach Medal and in 2013 the Bach Prize of the Royal Academy (UK). In 2001 he received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.