Takuo Yuasa (湯浅 卓雄 Yuasa Takuo, born 1949) is a Japanese conductor. Yuasa has directed major orchestras in Japan and the UK, and recording on more than 50 CDs as an exclusive artist for Naxos Records.
Takuo Yuasa was born in Osaka, Japan, where he studied piano, cello, flute, and clarinet.[1] At age 18, he left Japan to study at the University of Cincinnati in the USA, eventually completing a Bachelor Degree in Theory and Composition.[1] Later on, he moved to Europe to study conducting at the Hochschule in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky, after which he studied with Igor Markevitch in France and Franco Ferrara in Siena.[1] He then became assistant to Lovro von Matačić, working with him in Monte Carlo, Milan, and Vienna.[1] Since winning a Special Award at the Fitelberg International Conducting Competition in Katowice, Poland, Yuasa has frequently conducted the major orchestras there, including the Warsaw National Philharmonic and the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestras.
Back in his home of Japan, Yuasa conducts several major Japanese orchestras including the Japan Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic orchestra, and been principal conductor of the Gumma Symphony Orchestra.[1] Recent engagements include appearances with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in its own Subscription Series and the complete symphonies by Brahms and Schumann with the Osaka Century Orchestra. Outside of his performance career, he is also Associate Professor at the Performing Arts Centre, Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, where he is closely associated with the Geidai Philharmonic Orchestra and the University's wonderful new Sogaduko Concert Hall. In the UK, Yuasa has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra[1] (as principal guest conductor), and the Ulster Orchestra[1] (as principal guest conductor).
In April 2010, Yuasa came back to the UK with the Osaka Symphony Choir, to perform Handel's Judas Maccabbeus with the world famous Huddersfield Choral Society. This was performed in Huddersfield Town Hall on Friday 16 April 2010. The visit from the choir is a mirror of the one the Choral Society did some years ago, when they went to Osaka to sing Britten's War Requiem. The orchestra which played for the performance was the Manchester Camerata.
Yuasa has also worked with various youth orchestras, having made two appearances with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, with whom he toured in Summer of 2009 to play concerts in Katowice, Krakow in Poland, and Apeldoorn in The Netherlands. The programme included performances of Dvořák's Hussite Overture, Lutosławski's Cello Concerto, and Strauss' epic tone poem Ein Heldenleben. He has also made an appearance with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales in 2011, where he conducted Hilary Tann's From the Feather to the Mountain, Liszt's Tasso, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5.