Biography
TOSHIYUKI SHIMADA, a conductor in much demand because of his
experience and of vital service to his community where he conducts,
has just been appointed as Music Director of both Eastern Connecticut
Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut and the Orchestra of the Southern
Finger Lakes in New York. He continues as Music Director of Yale
Symphony Orchestra of Yale University. Since 1998, he has also
served as Principal Conductor of the Vienna Modern Masters record
label in Austria. He is also Music Director Laureate of Portland
Symphony Orchestra, in Portland, Maine, for which he served as
Music Director from 1986 to 2006. Prior to his Portland engagement,
he was Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony for six years,
beginning in 1981. In addition, he has served as Artistic Adviser of
Tulare County Symphony Orchestra in California from 2007 to 2009.
His guest conducting engagements this year include appearances with
Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius and Festival Cultural
de Mayo in Guadalajara, Mexico, with Orquesta Filharmonico de
Jalisco. Maestro Shimada has been a frequent guest conductor with a
number of European orchestras, including Moravian Philharmonic
Orchestra in Czech Republic, Karlovy Vařy (Karlsbad) Symphony
Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, NÖ
Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna, L’Orchestre National de Lille in
France, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra at Edinburgh Festival.
He has also guest conducted the Houston Symphony, Honolulu
Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, San José
Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Pacific Symphony
Orchestra, New York Chamber Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony
Orchestra, and many other US and Canadian orchestras. In 2008 Yale
Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Shimada made a highly successful
Italian tour performing in Rome, Florence, Bologna and Milan.
In addition to these activities, he has held the position of Music
Director of the Nassau Symphony Orchestra in New York, Music
Director of the Cambiata Soloists, a contemporary music ensemble in
Houston, Music Director of the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra
at Rice University, and Music Director of the Young Musicians
Foundation Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles.
He has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman,
Andre Watts, Peter Serkin, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Janos
Starker, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Nadjia Salerno-Sonnenberg, Cho-
Liang Lin, Sir James Galway, Evelyn Glennie, Barry Tuckwell, and
Doc Severinsen.
Maestro Shimada has had the good fortune to study with many
distinguished conductors of the past and the present, including Leonard
Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Herbert Blomstedt, Hans Swarovsky,
and Michael Tilson Thomas. He was a finalist in the 1979 Herbert von
Karajan conducting competition in Berlin,and a Fellow Conductor in
the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, in 1983. In addition, he was
named Ariel Musician of the Year in 2003 by Ariel Records, and
received the ASCAP award in 1989. He has graduated from California
State University, Northridge, studying with David Whitwell and
Lawrence Christianson, and attended University of Music and
Dramatic Arts in Vienna, Austria.
He has also consistently become an integral and beloved member of
every community he joins, receiving the Portland Fire Department's
Merit Award, the Maine Publicity Bureau Cultural Award, and the
Italian Heritage Society Cultural Award, and having a number of days
named in his honor: Toshiyuki Shimada Day in Houston, TX,
Toshiyuki Shimada Week in Portland, Maine, and Toshiyuki Shimada
Day in the State of Maine. In May 2006 he was awarded an Honorary
Doctorate Degree in Fine Arts by Maine College of Arts. At Yale
University, he has been selected as the Fellow of Davenport College
and a member of the Elizabethan Club.
He records with Vienna Modern Masters label, and with Moravian
Philharmonic, and currently he has fifteen Compact Discs. He also
records for Capstone Records, Querstand-VKJK (Germany) and
Albany Records. His recording of Gregory Hutter's Skyscrapers has
been released through Naxos label.
Currently Maestro Shimada holds a teaching position at Yale
University, as Associate Professor of Conducting with Yale School of
Music and Department of Music, and lives in Connecticut, USA, with
his concert pianist wife, Eva Virsik.
Please visit Maestro Shimada's MySpace page:
www.myspace.com/toshishimada
Eva Virsik's Web page:
www.evavirsik.com
experience and of vital service to his community where he conducts,
has just been appointed as Music Director of both Eastern Connecticut
Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut and the Orchestra of the Southern
Finger Lakes in New York. He continues as Music Director of Yale
Symphony Orchestra of Yale University. Since 1998, he has also
served as Principal Conductor of the Vienna Modern Masters record
label in Austria. He is also Music Director Laureate of Portland
Symphony Orchestra, in Portland, Maine, for which he served as
Music Director from 1986 to 2006. Prior to his Portland engagement,
he was Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony for six years,
beginning in 1981. In addition, he has served as Artistic Adviser of
Tulare County Symphony Orchestra in California from 2007 to 2009.
His guest conducting engagements this year include appearances with
Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius and Festival Cultural
de Mayo in Guadalajara, Mexico, with Orquesta Filharmonico de
Jalisco. Maestro Shimada has been a frequent guest conductor with a
number of European orchestras, including Moravian Philharmonic
Orchestra in Czech Republic, Karlovy Vařy (Karlsbad) Symphony
Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, NÖ
Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna, L’Orchestre National de Lille in
France, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra at Edinburgh Festival.
He has also guest conducted the Houston Symphony, Honolulu
Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, San José
Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Pacific Symphony
Orchestra, New York Chamber Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony
Orchestra, and many other US and Canadian orchestras. In 2008 Yale
Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Shimada made a highly successful
Italian tour performing in Rome, Florence, Bologna and Milan.
In addition to these activities, he has held the position of Music
Director of the Nassau Symphony Orchestra in New York, Music
Director of the Cambiata Soloists, a contemporary music ensemble in
Houston, Music Director of the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra
at Rice University, and Music Director of the Young Musicians
Foundation Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles.
He has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman,
Andre Watts, Peter Serkin, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Janos
Starker, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Nadjia Salerno-Sonnenberg, Cho-
Liang Lin, Sir James Galway, Evelyn Glennie, Barry Tuckwell, and
Doc Severinsen.
Maestro Shimada has had the good fortune to study with many
distinguished conductors of the past and the present, including Leonard
Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Herbert Blomstedt, Hans Swarovsky,
and Michael Tilson Thomas. He was a finalist in the 1979 Herbert von
Karajan conducting competition in Berlin,and a Fellow Conductor in
the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, in 1983. In addition, he was
named Ariel Musician of the Year in 2003 by Ariel Records, and
received the ASCAP award in 1989. He has graduated from California
State University, Northridge, studying with David Whitwell and
Lawrence Christianson, and attended University of Music and
Dramatic Arts in Vienna, Austria.
He has also consistently become an integral and beloved member of
every community he joins, receiving the Portland Fire Department's
Merit Award, the Maine Publicity Bureau Cultural Award, and the
Italian Heritage Society Cultural Award, and having a number of days
named in his honor: Toshiyuki Shimada Day in Houston, TX,
Toshiyuki Shimada Week in Portland, Maine, and Toshiyuki Shimada
Day in the State of Maine. In May 2006 he was awarded an Honorary
Doctorate Degree in Fine Arts by Maine College of Arts. At Yale
University, he has been selected as the Fellow of Davenport College
and a member of the Elizabethan Club.
He records with Vienna Modern Masters label, and with Moravian
Philharmonic, and currently he has fifteen Compact Discs. He also
records for Capstone Records, Querstand-VKJK (Germany) and
Albany Records. His recording of Gregory Hutter's Skyscrapers has
been released through Naxos label.
Currently Maestro Shimada holds a teaching position at Yale
University, as Associate Professor of Conducting with Yale School of
Music and Department of Music, and lives in Connecticut, USA, with
his concert pianist wife, Eva Virsik.
Please visit Maestro Shimada's MySpace page:
www.myspace.com/toshishimada
Eva Virsik's Web page:
www.evavirsik.com
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