“An eminent Bach interpreter in his prime”

(Gramophone Magazine, May 2020)

Founder and Music Director: Bach Collegium Japan

Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.

In addition to working with renowned period ensembles, such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque, Suzuki is invited to conduct repertoire as diverse as Brahms, Britten, Fauré, Mahler, Mendelssohn and Stravinsky, with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio, Danish National Radio, Gothenburg Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, San Francisco Symphony, Sydney Symphony and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestras. This season he visits the NDR Elbphilharmonie, NHK Symphony, Seattle Symphony and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, amongst others.

Suzuki’s impressive discography on the BIS label, featuring all Bach’s major choral works as well as complete works for harpsichord, has brought him many critical plaudits — the Times has written: ​“it would take an iron bar not to be moved by his crispness, sobriety and spiritual vigour”. 2018 marked the triumphant conclusion of Bach Collegium Japan’s epic recording of the complete sacred and secular cantatas initiated in 1995 and comprising sixty-five volumes. The ensemble has recently recorded the Grammophone´s awarded Bach´s St. John´s Passion and St. Matthew´s Passion.