Kazushi Ono’s musical personality was formed by the cultures of Japan, where he was born, and Europe, where he studied. His work reflects both influences, and crosses styles and forms, from Baroque to new commissions and from orchestral to opera. His passion, musical intellect and ability to communicate meaning across languages and cultures have led to longstanding relationships around the world.



He is Music Director of Brussels Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Appointed as Artistic Director of Opera at New National Theatre Tokyo in 2018, he recently renewed until 2029–30, making his tenure the longest in the theatre’s history. He previously served as Music Director at Opéra de Lyon (2008–17), La Monnaie (2002–8) and Bade State Opera Karlsruhe (1996–2002).



Ono has guest conducted at La Scala (Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Verdi’s Macbeth) and Bayerische Staatsoper (Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel and Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer), and made several appearances at Hamburg Opera and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.



He often commissions composers and has collaborated several times with Mark-Anthony Turnage, including on Silent Cities and Hibiki. He has also conducted works by Toshio Hosokawa, George Benjamin, Martin Matalon and Tōru Takemitsu, and among many opera world premieres, Hosokawa’s Hanjo, Arnulf Hermann’s Der Mieter and, most recently, La Monnaie’s premiere of Bernard Foccroulle’s Cassandra.



Ono is equally at home with classic operatic repertoire, conducting new productions of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and L’Enfant et les sortilèges at Glyndebourne and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher at Opéra de Lyon. He has worked on ambitious collaborations with boundary-breaking directors such as Dmitri Tcherniakov, Romeo Castellucci, Pierre Audi, William Kentridge and Mariusz Treliński. This season he conducts New National Theatre Tokyo’s premiere of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell.



With Rusalka, he makes his third appearance at Opéra de Paris, having conducted Hindemith’s Cardillac (2008) and Szymanowski’s King Roger (2009).