Kazushi Ono has had his contract as Music Director of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra renewed by three years, taking it until the end of the 2025/26 season, which marks the orchestra’s 60th anniversary. The extension comes soon after his new appointment as Music Director of Brussels Philharmonic.
Ono has been with the orchestra since 2015 and at the outset of the pandemic worked with researchers and its players to study the Covid risk involved in orchestral playing, with the results making an impact around the world.
Ono said: ‘I am delighted that the contract between Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and myself has been extended until the end of the 2025 season, the 60th anniversary of TMSO. After taking the lead in publishing a roadmap toward the recommencement of our public performances during the COVID-19 pandemic, TMSO and I devoted ourselves to the performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No.4, and Poulenc’s Gloria, among others. In the years ahead, I hope we can build upon those experiences and make a contribution to the development of music culture in the new era.’