Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at Philharmonie Berlin

About the Event

Makoto Ozone's meteoric career earned the Japanese jazz pianist a Grammy nomination in 2003. His performances with stars of the international jazz scene have been celebrated by the press and audiences worldwide. In recent years, Ozone has focused on the classical repertoire and performed concerts by Bernstein, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev with major orchestras. “The audience was fascinated and impressed by Ozone's incomparable performance,” wrote the Hannover Zeitung.

For his guest performance in Berlin, Makoto Ozone will ignite an energetic keyboard fireworks display with Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue” together with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra – a combination of jazz and classical music that seems almost programmatic in his biography. The concert will be complemented by Bernstein's “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story” and excerpts from Prokofiev's “Romeo and Juliet” suites – works that impressively showcase the multifaceted sound spectrum of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1911. As Japan's oldest symphony orchestra, it will embark on a major European tour in the fall with its honorary music director Myung‐Whun Chung. Chung has enjoyed an exceptionally close collaboration with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra for over 25 years and is considered its most important conductor.