Kazuki Yamada begins Tenure as Artistic Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre

Opened in 1990 as a landmark in front of Ikebukuro Station—one of Tokyo’s major transportation hubs—the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre is a leading cultural complex in Japan. It features a beautiful 2,000-seat concert hall housing one of the world’s finest pipe organs, as well as multiple halls for theater and dance performances.

As the Artistic Director of this theatre (Music Division), Kazuki Yamada will take charge of its music program starting today, 1 April, 2026.

“One of Japan's foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th century, Taro Okamoto, said - 'Art is an explosion!'. From that kind of meaning, I think that the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre has to be constantly exploding", reflects Kazuki Yamada. "But it probably is possible to create a venue where things are mixing together, and which are full of interplay, without actually blowing up the building. I want to rethink the existence of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre as a venue where people gather."

Revival of a Masterpiece by a Japanese Composer: Shuko Mizuno’s Symphonic Metamorphosis

“Performing works by Japanese composers” has long been one of the cornerstones of Yamada’s artistic activities. Yamada’s passion for this endeavor is immense; he has brought to light many little-known masterpieces and introduced them to audiences in Japan and around the world. At the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Yamada will also make this initiative a key focus of his work and will actively pursue it throughout his tenure.

For his opening performance as the Artistic Director on 10 May 2026, Kazuki Yamada chose Shuko Mizuno’s Symphonic Metamorphosis. As Yamada describes it, this is probably “the largest-scale symphonic work in existence today”; indeed, the 1992 premiere, featuring over 700 performers—including a choir of more than 550 singers—lasted approximately three and a half hours. Due to its sheer scale, the work has long been considered “impossible to restage".

Having gained the full trust of Mizuno himself—who turned 92 this past February—Yamada spent two years analyzing the score and checking every part. Now, with a cast of approximately 400 musicians, he is set to stage the first revival of the work since its premiere.

In addition to the orchestra and choirs with whom Yamada has built relationships of trust, the performance will also feature students from the Tokyo College of Music and the use of traditional Japanese instruments on loan from local temples. This performance symbolizes the collaboration with the local community that Yamada promotes as the theatre’s director.

© Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre

Sharing Music with Children & Launching a New Producing Recital Series 

Yamada is particularly passionate about sharing music with children, who symbolize the future. He plans to launch a series of projects on 5 May, a Japanese national holiday known as “Children's Day”, in an open space accessible to all in the theatre.

The program includes a piano duet project featuring small children and Yamada performing pieces from the “Beyer” etudes; a project featuring piano concertos for children—including pieces specially prepared for this occasion— with soloists aged 15 and under selected through auditions; and a family concert presented in collaboration with a youth wind orchestra.

He is also launching a new producing recital series, an intimate recital format outside the concert hall. The one-hour programs, hosted by Yamada, feature outstanding musicians from Japanese orchestras and reflect their artistic journeys, alongside elements from their local hometowns. The series aims to connect musicians, audiences, and regions across Japan.

Yamada’s five-year term as Artistic Director is guided by a vision to inspire Japan as a whole and serve as a platform communicating with the world.