Masato Suzuki

“[Suzuki’s] phrases are stunningly articulated, teeming with nuance and character. The section in the relative minor is particularly delightful … Suzuki handles this phrase, which in this arrangement could easily become a demonstration of moto perpetuo drill, with the subtle shaping and minutiae of timing and touch that are the hallmarks of a master harpsichordist.”
(Gramophone Magazine, October 2019)

Principal Conductor: Bach Collegium Japan
Executive Producer: Chofu International Music Festival
Associate Conductor & Creative Partner: Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
Music Director: Ensemble Genesis

Masato Suzuki is Principal Conductor of Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ), Conductor/Creative Partner of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of Ensemble Genesis and Principal Guest Conductor of the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a conductor, he has performed with the NHK Symphony and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony orchestras, among others, and in April 2022 he made a guest appearance with Symphoniker Hamburg. He also conducted the Netherlands Bach Society in 2023, and the Academy of Ancient Music in 2020.

Suzuki has directed numerous productions in BCJ’s opera series, including Monteverdi’s The Crowning of Poppea (2017), Handel’s Rinaldo (2020/19th Yoshio Sagawa Music Award) and Giulio Cesare (2023). The latter set new standards in baroque opera in Japan.

He appeared as conductor at the New National Theatre in May 2022 with Gluck’s Orfeo e Euridice, directed by Saburo Teshigawara. This year, he conducted Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, which was performed by the Tokyu Group and Bach Collegium Japan. They will collaborate again in 2025 for Don Giovanni. Suzuki also regularly appears on NHK-FM’s ‘The Pleasure of Old Music’ and has made numerous media appearances, including on TV Asahi’s ‘Untitled Concert’.

Suzuki’s distinguished discography includes numerous recordings with BCJ, including the complete J. S. Bach’s sacred and secular cantatas and the composer’s concertos for two harpsichords, which features Suzuki’s own arrangement of Orchestral Suite No.1. His duo recording of J. S. Bach’s Sonatas for Viola Da Gamba and Harpsichord with Antoine Tamestit was praised as “stunningly articulated” (Gramophone) and nominated for an International Classical Music Award (2019). His recent recording of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, was dubbed “Suzuki at his best” (The Guardian).

Suzuki is a graduate of both the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, Netherlands and Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he also completed a postgraduate course. He is a recipient of the 71^st Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Newcomer’s Art Encouragement Award, the 18^th Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award, the 18^th Hotel Okura Music Award, the 29^th Akio Watanabe Music Foundation Music Award. He is also Executive Producer of the Chofu International Music Festival and a visiting professor at Kyushu University.

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Season Highlights

April 2025

Macau International Music Festival

Repertoire:

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 224

Bach - WTC I Prelude and fugue in C minor BWV 847 - Suzuki | Netherlands Bach Society © Netherlands Bach Society

Antoine Tamestit and Masato Suzuki - Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord - VF 2019 © Verbier Festival & Medici.tv

“It wasn’t just [Leo] Duarte who shone, in the first-half cantata sinfonias, but also [Masato Suzuki] in a surprising manifestation of what we know best as the outer movements of the D minor Harpsichord Concerto. As sinfonias for two more cantatas, they sounded startlingly different in the collaboration between the players and the conductor at the chamber organ, a virtuosic tour de force which twice stole the show.”

(The Art Desk, January 2020)

“[Suzuki’s] phrases are stunningly articulated, teeming with nuance and character. The section in the relative minor is particularly delightful … Suzuki handles this phrase, which in this arrangement could easily become a demonstration of moto perpetuo drill, with the subtle shaping and minutiae of timing and touch that are the hallmarks of a master harpsichordist.”

(Gramophone Magazine, October 2019)

“Tamestit and his partner Masato Suzuki achieve a communicative and spontaneous rapport … a fascinating adjunct to the programme is their arrangement for viola and harpsichord of the fervent tenor aria with viola obbligato – an almost unique occurrence of the instrument in this role in Bach’s cantatas – from “Wo soll ich flienhen hin?” (BWV5).”

(BBC Music Magazine, October 2019)

“With the harpsichordist Masato Suzuki, Antoine Tamestit gives Bach’s three viola da gamba sonatas on his 1672 Stradivarius viola, albeit using a baroque bow and tuning to baroque pitch. The contrast with the thinnish sonorities of the fretted, six-stringed viola da gamba is stark, Tamestit producing a luscious array of velvety colours and luxuriant phrasing. Heresy, some might say, but it works beautifully.”

(The Sunday Times, August 2019)

“Suzuki’s hands moved seamlessly between the two manuals adding to the drama of this richly scored work. The accompanying period instruments produced a lively orchestral sound centred around the dynamic viola interactions with the harpsichord … Suzuki took full advantage of the opportunity to show off the full extent of the Taskin’s bright tonal colours with his dazzling account of Bach’s virtuosic Italian Concerto for solo harpsichord.”

(The Scotsman, August 2019)