OSAMU SASAKI
Osamu Sasaki was born in 1955 in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from Hirosaki High School, he studied at Musashino Academia Musicae. In 1977, he was awarded a scholarship by the Austrian government and entered the Conducting Department of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where he studied under Herbert von Karajan, Sergiu Celibidache, and Gerhard Wimberger. In 1979, he was a finalist at the Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin. He graduated with highest honors from the Mozarteum University in 1981.
From 1981 to 1984, Sasaki served as a lecturer in conducting and principal conductor of the university’s orchestra. In 1982, he became the first Asian conductor to lead the Mozarteum Orchestra at the Salzburg International Mozart Week, earning praise from Opera-Konzert magazine as “a genuinely natural, supple, and fresh Mozart conductor.”
In 1983, he received the Bernhard Paumgartner Medal from the International Mozarteum Foundation and an encouragement award from the International Salzburg Society. In 1984, he conducted the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (now Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin) at the RIAS Young Artists Concert held at the Berlin Philharmonie.
Upon returning to Japan, Sasaki conducted professional and amateur orchestras and choirs across the country. In 1996, he gained national attention conducting the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra in Fuji TV’s "Atlanta Olympics Highlights." From 1999 to 2009, he served as Music and IT Planner for the Osaka Symphony Orchestra.
Sasaki has also worked in broadcasting, including as a personality and music supervisor for NHK's FM Symphony Concert, FM802’s From Suntory Hall, and TV Tokyo’s Tamori's Music is the World!.
Entering the IT era, Sasaki expanded his activities further. In 2000, he created the business model for the world’s first mobile health management service, "Luna" (now "LunaLuna"), and co-founded it with MTI Ltd. He remained involved in its planning and development until 2011.
Since 2013, he has served as the principal conductor of Nihonbashi Opera. His conducting credits include: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Der Freischütz, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Iris, La Traviata, Aida, Il Trovatore, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Un ballo in maschera, Gustavo III, Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, and Hansel and Gretel.
He has been praised in Ongaku Gendai magazine for “presenting a new perspective on Wagner” and for “sustaining high tension with dramatic conducting.”
In recent years, Sasaki has focused on rediscovering and reviving important but forgotten or underappreciated operas. He has worked on score restoration and editing, leading to Japanese and Asian premieres of works such as Messager's Madame Chrysanthème, Verdi's Gustavo III, Monleone’s version of Cavalleria Rusticana, and Beethoven’s Leonore.
As an arranger and editor, he has contributed numerous opera and choral arrangements, as well as critical editions of vocal scores, to the IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library). In October 2020, his chamber orchestra arrangement of Tristan und Isolde, originally created in 2013 for Nihonbashi Opera, was performed four times at the Staatsoper Hannover. The Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung praised the production, stating that it “made one feel this might have been the original version.”
Sasaki’s work has been widely covered in major media such as Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, Mostly Classic, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Ongaku no Tomo. He also has accomplishments in the fields of web, video, recording, and AI patents, and remains active as a music producer and YouTuber.
He resides in Naka Ward, Yokohama. He is CEO of Maestro Inc., Principal Conductor of Nihonbashi Opera, and a board member of the Nihonbashi Opera Institute.
From 1981 to 1984, Sasaki served as a lecturer in conducting and principal conductor of the university’s orchestra. In 1982, he became the first Asian conductor to lead the Mozarteum Orchestra at the Salzburg International Mozart Week, earning praise from Opera-Konzert magazine as “a genuinely natural, supple, and fresh Mozart conductor.”
In 1983, he received the Bernhard Paumgartner Medal from the International Mozarteum Foundation and an encouragement award from the International Salzburg Society. In 1984, he conducted the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (now Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin) at the RIAS Young Artists Concert held at the Berlin Philharmonie.
Upon returning to Japan, Sasaki conducted professional and amateur orchestras and choirs across the country. In 1996, he gained national attention conducting the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra in Fuji TV’s "Atlanta Olympics Highlights." From 1999 to 2009, he served as Music and IT Planner for the Osaka Symphony Orchestra.
Sasaki has also worked in broadcasting, including as a personality and music supervisor for NHK's FM Symphony Concert, FM802’s From Suntory Hall, and TV Tokyo’s Tamori's Music is the World!.
Entering the IT era, Sasaki expanded his activities further. In 2000, he created the business model for the world’s first mobile health management service, "Luna" (now "LunaLuna"), and co-founded it with MTI Ltd. He remained involved in its planning and development until 2011.
Since 2013, he has served as the principal conductor of Nihonbashi Opera. His conducting credits include: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Der Freischütz, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Iris, La Traviata, Aida, Il Trovatore, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Un ballo in maschera, Gustavo III, Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, and Hansel and Gretel.
He has been praised in Ongaku Gendai magazine for “presenting a new perspective on Wagner” and for “sustaining high tension with dramatic conducting.”
In recent years, Sasaki has focused on rediscovering and reviving important but forgotten or underappreciated operas. He has worked on score restoration and editing, leading to Japanese and Asian premieres of works such as Messager's Madame Chrysanthème, Verdi's Gustavo III, Monleone’s version of Cavalleria Rusticana, and Beethoven’s Leonore.
As an arranger and editor, he has contributed numerous opera and choral arrangements, as well as critical editions of vocal scores, to the IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library). In October 2020, his chamber orchestra arrangement of Tristan und Isolde, originally created in 2013 for Nihonbashi Opera, was performed four times at the Staatsoper Hannover. The Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung praised the production, stating that it “made one feel this might have been the original version.”
Sasaki’s work has been widely covered in major media such as Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, Mostly Classic, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Ongaku no Tomo. He also has accomplishments in the fields of web, video, recording, and AI patents, and remains active as a music producer and YouTuber.
He resides in Naka Ward, Yokohama. He is CEO of Maestro Inc., Principal Conductor of Nihonbashi Opera, and a board member of the Nihonbashi Opera Institute.