Seikyo Kim

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.

Kim now lives in Tokyo where he has established a reputation as one of Japan’s most promising young conductors. He enjoys strong relationships with many of the country’s major orchestras, including NHK Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Japan Philharmonic, Kyoto Symphony and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa.



While in Vienna, Kim was particularly influenced by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Roger Norrington, whose concerts he attended regularly. His fascination for period performance styles then led him to become a pioneer of this approach in his native country, and he has applied it to repertoire ranging form Mozart through to Brahms, Mahler and Shostakovich. He has had the opportunity to develop this aspect of his work in depth with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, but also with larger orchestras such as the NHK Symphony.

Kim has recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and this will shortly be followed by the complete Brahms symphonies.

Highlights over the coming season include the Tokyo Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Kyoto Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic as well the completion of his Brahms Symphony cycle with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa.