About

Guest introduction

Conductor: Maika Shibata

Maiku Shibata, conductor

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Born in Tokyo in 1978. After graduating from the Kunitachi College of Music Department of Vocal Music, he studied as a chorus conductor and assistant conductor at the Fujiwara Opera Company and the Tokyo Chamber Opera.

In 2003, he traveled to Europe, where he studied in theaters and orchestras throughout Germany. Conducted the Vidin Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria) at the graduation concert. At the end of the same year, he performed as a guest at the Hannover Silvester Concert (Germany), conducting the Prague Chamber Orchestra. At the end of the following year, he also performed as a guest with the Berlin Chamber Orchestra, and conducted the Silvester Concert two years in a row, which was a great success.
In 2005, he passed the audition for the assistant conductor of the Grand Opera House of Liceu (Barcelona, Spain) and worked as an assistant to various directors and singers such as Sebastian Weigle, Antoni Ros-Malba, Renato Palumbo, and Josep Vicente. The experience of working with and gaining great trust in performances has become the foundation of his career as an opera conductor.

After returning to Japan, he mainly worked as an opera conductor. In the same year, he won the Gotoh Memorial Cultural Foundation Opera Newcomer Award and went to Europe again as a trainee, where he devoted himself to studying mainly in Italian theaters.

Recently, he has performed with the Fujiwara Opera in Massenet's "The Maiden of Navarra" (Japan Premiere) in 2018, Puccini's "La Bohème" in 2019, Verdi's "Rigoletto" in 2020, and Bellini's "Puritan" in 2021. .
In November 2020, he also conducted "Lucia ~ Or A Bride's Tragedy ~" at the Nissay Theater, which was well received. He has also conducted at the Sakai City Opera and the New National Theater Opera Training Institute. He has a reputation for making music that is both supple and dramatic.
In recent years, he has also been focusing on orchestral music, conducting the Yomikyo, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Daikyo, Group Symphony Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, etc.

He studied conducting under Naohiro Totsuka, Yutaka Hoshide, Thilo Rehmann, and Salvador Mas Conde. In 2010, he received the Gotoh Memorial Cultural Foundation Opera Newcomer Award (Conductor). In April 2022, he became a music partner of the Osaka Symphony Orchestra.