Nodoka Okisawa

Nodoka Okisawa was named Chief Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra in 2023, and in 2024 she was also named as the first ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Matsumoto Festival by its’ founder, Seiji Ozawa. Her first encounter with the Saito Kinen Orchestra was at the 2022 festival, where she conducted Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in a production by Laurent Pelly. Elsewhere in Japan she works with many leading orchestra including the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and NHK Symphony. In addition, Nodoka Okisawa is engaged with such orchestras as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The Hallé, Kammerorchester Basel, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Münchener Symphoniker. Nodoka Okisawa was the winner of the prestigious Concours international de jeunes chefs d’orchestre de Besançon 2019, where she was awarded the ‘Grand Prix’, the Orchestra Prize and the Audience Prize. Furthermore, in 2018, she won the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting. From 2020 to 2022, Nodoka Okisawa held a scholarship at the Karajan-Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker and was also assistant to Kirill Petrenko. In addition to her own concert projects together with the academy members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, she also conducted the Solidarity Concert for Ukraine with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the invitation of the Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Another highlight was the joint anniversary concert with Kirill Petrenko to mark the 50th anniversary of the Karajan-Akademie. In 2023, Nodoka Okisawa was awarded the ‘Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award’ by the Sony Music Foundation. Photo: Felix Broede