Yunosuke Okamura

Yunosuke Okamura

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About

Having begun his musical journey as a pianist in early childhood, Yunosuke Okamura later turned his focus to orchestral conducting and composition. He studied conducting for three years at the Tokyo College of Music High School before founding both a symphony orchestra and a wind ensemble, serving as their Artistic Director until 2021.

Leading these ensembles, he initiated a number of ambitious projects. In June 2019, he conducted the Japanese premiere of a symphony by the Spanish composer Luis Serrano Alarcón, a performance that attracted attention from the specialist music press. He also organised a marathon performance of Beethoven’s five piano concertos in a single evening with five different soloists, and conducted numerous world premieres, including concertos for piano, clarinet and euphonium, as well as an approximately hour-long symphonic work, Cinq expressions symphoniques d’après « Poisson soluble » d’André Breton pour orchestre d’harmonie.

Based in France since 2020, he has developed a diverse artistic career. He is currently studying composition at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise, Ondes Martenot at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), and orchestral conducting as 2nd study at the CNSMDP.

Alongside his studies, he is regularly invited to conduct at festivals, official concerts and examination performances, including Festival Présences, Festival Absence, the CNSMDP and the École Normale de Musique de Paris. In March 2025, he was invited by the composers’ collective Symnapse to conduct The New Ravel Affair. The performance received widespread acclaim, and attracted significant attention on social media. A recording of the concert is also available on Naxos Music Library.

His career as a composer has expanded across Europe. Works from his catalogue were performed at the 2023 and 2024 editions of Festival Absence in Paris. In January 2025, one of his compositions was featured in the opening concert of the Divertimento Ensemble season in Italy, marking his European debut as a composer. He also receives composition commissions on a regular basis.

His musical training spans several disciplines. In conducting, he has studied with Rut Schereiner, Jorma Panula, Koji Kawamoto, Akihito Mihara, Jean-Michel Ferran, Douglas Bostock et Sandro Gorli. In composition, he has studied with Yves Chauris, Yann Robin, Frédéric Durieux, Jean-Luc Hervé, Naoki Sakata, Hitomi Kaneko and Noriko Hisada. He has also studied piano with Pascal Rogé, Asuka Iino, Nobuyuki Hirose, Hironao Suzuki, Yuko Yamanouchi and Nozomi Tanaka, fortepiano with Luca Montebugnoli, and Ondes Martenot with Nathalie Forget and Augustin Viard.

In September 2025, he was selected as one of the twenty finalists of the 59th Besançon International Conducting Competition. In July 2026, he won First Prize at the 7th International Conducting Academy & Competition, organised by the Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra (OCCO) in Portugal, leading to an invitation to conduct the orchestra during its 2026–27 season. In August 2026, he was also selected to participate in the 3rd Hiroshima International Conducting Competition.

From September 2026, he will study Orchestral Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

As a conductor, composer and performer, Yunosuke Okamura’s distinctive artistic voice is shaped by extensive experience across several instruments and by his dual perspective as both creator and interpreter. His work combines a deep respect for the Western classical tradition with a distinctive contemporary artistic sensibility. Through every project, he seeks to create a unique musical space, offering audiences performances that are both deeply personal and uniquely authentic.

Concerts
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