Daisuke Muranaka

Conductor“Muranaka drove the music forcefully forward while retaining sprightly buoyancy, andsummoned an appropriately heroic spirit…” (Claire Seymour)

In 2013 Daisuke Muranaka was appointed as an Artistic Director and Principal
Conductor of newly formed Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, “Orchestra AfiA”,
with which he has embarked upon the series of concerts entitled “Nature andMusic” in Tokyo , with recording plans which includes Mendelssohn , Schumann,
Schubert and the Beethoven Cycles. Recently he made a Japanese Premiere of thenew chamber orchestra version of Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” withOrchestra AfiA and had a great critical approval in his country.
His recent featured concerts on the “Nature and Music” programme got aattention from all over the world, and became one of the nominee from over 2000
music institutions for the “Innovation Award” 2016 in Classical:NEXT.
Mr. Muranaka ’s glittering career as a conductor first came into prominence in1996, when he made his operatic debut in Italy with “ Die Zauberflöte “ in Treviso
Teatro Mario Del Monaco at two hours notice because of the sudden illness ofPeter Maag, with whom he had a long musical partnership as an assistant of Peter
Maag’s last years. His current worldwide Opera performances include La GrandTeatro La Fenice di Venezia , Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Glyndebourne FestivalOpera, Theater St. Gallen, Teatro Comunale di Treviso “Mario del Monaco”, TheNational Theater in Tokyo and many others. Among which, in Teatro Massimo diPalermo, Mr. Muranaka ‘s interpretation of “Manon Lescaut” had a biggest
acclaim after the newly reopened Scilian Theater with Norma Fantini in title roleand Gazzettino di Treviso says “ Puccini must be conducted like this..”.
Performances have taken him to many concert Venues such as Verdi Hall (Milan),
Palais des Beaux-Arts(Brussels), Cadogan Hall (London), Ueno
Bunkakaikan(Tokyo) , Teatro Massimo , Teatro Politeama (Palermo), Grand
Teatro Fenice(Venezia) and many others.
He has also conducted many Italian and Japanese premières for contemporarycomposers such as F. Pennisi and H.W.Henze, gaining the composer’s own praisefor his interpretation.
His next European appearance will be in Malmesbury with the English Chamber
Orchestra in May conducting Beethoven’2nd Symphony, and will be back to Tokyo
to continue his 2016~17 Season with his Orchestra AfiA , including Mendelssohn
Cycles.
Mr. Muranaka has enjoyed success as a conductor in Japan after winning
prestigious “ Idemitsu Music Award 2001” and already conducted almost allJapanese Orchestras such as NHK Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Yomiuri

Symphony, Kyoto Symphony, Nippon Century Orchestra, New Japan Symphony,
Japan Symphony, Kyushu Symphony, Gunma Symphony, Tokyo City Pilharmonic
and Tokyo New City Orchesta.
His discography includes a recording of Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto withPaquale Ianonne (Phoenix) and Mendelssohn’ Scottish Symphony with theOrchestra AfiA(WAKA) that has been released released with great critical acclaimin Japan, recognized as one of the reference CDs in 2015.
Daisuke Muranaka’s last performance with the English Chamber Orchestra wasthe Schubert Tragic Symphony in Gloucestershire and the Mendelssohn ScottishSymphony in London’s Cadogan Hall in 2015.
In 2016 Daisuke Muranaka 's "Nature & Music "Concert Series was nominatedfrom over 3000 Professional Classical Groups worldwide as one of the best 10
Innovative Idea for the Nominee of Innovation Award in Rotterdam.
From 2018, he returned to his second Heimat Italy to conduct several concerts
and Operas, beginning at Teatro Massimo Bellini (Catania) , then at Teatro
Politeama with Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana (2019) and at Teatro Lirico diCagliari (2020).
In 2021 Daisuke will issue his 4th CD with 3rd Symphony of Schumann fromWAKA Label in Japan.