©Andrew BogardConductor
KENSHO WATANABE
Kensho Watanabe has been assistant conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra since the2016/17 season and was the inaugural conducting fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music from2013 to 2015, under the mentorship of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In April 2017 he came toworldwide attention when he stepped in at the last minute for an indisposed Nézet-Séguin to
make his critically acclaimed debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra and pianist Daniil Trifonov.
His 2017/18 season with the Orchestra has included a performance of Dvorak’s Violin
Concerto with violinist Hilary Hahn, and numerous Family and School Concerts. His
contract for the 2018/19 season has since been renewed, and he will also conducta subscription week with the Philadelphians next season.
Equally at home in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Mr. Watanabe has led numerous
operas with the Curtis Opera Theatre, most recently Puccini’s La rondine in 2017 and Puccini’s
La bohème in 2015. Additionally he served as assistant conductor to Mr. Nézet-Séguin on anew production of Strauss’s Elektra at Montreal Opera. Mr. Watanabe’s future performances
include a re-engagement with the Orchestre Métropolitain, and debuts with theHouston Symphony and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Detroit SymphonyOrchestra.
An accomplished violinist, Mr. Watanabe received his Master of Music degree from the Yale
School of Music and served as a substitute violinist in The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2012
to 2016. Cognizant of the importance of the training and development of young musicians, hehas served on the staff of the Greenwood Music Camp since 2007, currently serving as theOrchestra conductor.
Born in Yokohama to Japanese parents, he moved to the US when he was five because of his
father’s work. He has since been based in the US. Mr. Watanabe is a graduate of the Curtis
Institute of Music, where he studied with distinguished conducting pedagogue Otto-Werner
Mueller. Additionally he holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Yale College, where hestudied molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.
Kensho Watanabe https://www.kenshowatanabe.com/

MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO
Piano: Marcus Roberts
Drums: Jason Marsalis
Bass: Rodney Jordan
The Marcus Roberts Trio was founded by Marcus Roberts in 1995.
Drummer, Jason Marsalis, has held the drum chair since the beginning and he has
played an important role in the development of this group. Rodney Jordan joined thetrio in 2009 and his profound musical intelligence has left an indelible mark on the soundof the trio.
Together, these three musicians are known for their quick musical reflexes and creative
imaginations. With the founding of this new trio, Roberts set about creating a new jazztrio style that features all three instruments as equal partners in shaping the direction ofthe music. Any member of this trio can alter various aspects of the music such as itstempo, key, or meter, at any time without losing site of the melody and harmonic
structure of the song. The trio members simply shift freely in a new direction at any time
as if it were planned that way from the beginning.
Marcus Roberts has always believed in the importance of history. For him, a greatmusician is one who is steeped in a thorough understanding of the history of his art form
and who has that history at his fingertips. It is this command of the music that makes it
possible for him to create something new that is also truly great. The trio’s completely
modern sound has grown from the roots of the music from its early days in New Orleans,to the group improvisational style of the Coltrane quartet and the virtuosic performancesof bebop musicians, and on to modern times. The sound of the Marcus Roberts Trio is
powerfully rhythmic, strongly melodic, and filled with virtuosic group and individual
improvisation.
Marcus Roberts Trio http://marcusroberts.com