"During these five years, we have often tackled contemporary works," says Austrian conductor Christian Arming, music director of the New Japan Philharmonic (NJP) since 2003. "I believe that broadened our horizon."
Born in Vienna, Arming, 37, studied at the city's University of Music and Performing Arts and is one of Austria's most in-demand conductors, successful both in opera and symphonic orchestra. At the age of 24, he was appointed as chief conductor of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic, where he served until 2002. He also worked for the Lucerne Theater in Switzerland from 2001 to 2004.
As an assistant to Japanese maestro Seiji Ozawa (born in 1935), Arming worked with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the renowned music venue Tanglewood in Massachusetts. He also came to Tokyo with Ozawa to work with the New Japan Philharmonic several times in the 1990s, which led up to his appointment as the NJP's music director after Ozawa vacated the role to become honorary conductor laureate in 1999. At the time, Arming's appointment to that top position at one of Japan's leading orchestras caused a sensation, as he was then aged only 31.