"Japanese People Active Overseas" is a series that introduces the stories of Japanese people who are active in various fields on the global stage.
This time we will introduce pianist Ryutaro Suzuki, who is based in Paris and performs throughout Europe and Japan.
The interview took place at 30:18 a.m. Japan time. Suzuki's image on the computer screen indicated that it was 30:XNUMX p.m. the previous day local time in Colombia, where he was staying that day.
In fact, Suzuki was in the middle of a three-week tour of South America, and was rehearsing in Colombia that day ahead of a concert there the following day.
Suzuki describes his current performance activities as "16% in Europe, mainly in Paris, and XNUMX% in Japan." After graduating from high school, he moved to France and entered the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris (commonly known as the Paris Conservatoire), and since then, he has lived in Paris for XNUMX years. In two years, he will have spent the same amount of time in Paris and Japan.
During that time, he has achieved excellent results in numerous international music competitions and steadily built his career as a pianist. In recent years, he has had more opportunities to perform in Japan, and in October 2023, he appeared at the music event "CLASSICAL MUSIC COLLECTION JAPAN (CMCJ)," which holds concerts by world-renowned classical musicians at unique venues unique to Japan, such as temples and shrines.
He is actively involved in activities, including contributing to his hometown, such as performing with his teacher from his days at the Paris Conservatory, Michel D'Alberto, at Kakuonji Temple in his hometown of Kamakura.
In an environment where there were no musicians in his family, he showed his talents in both studies and music.
We first asked Suzuki about his encounter with the piano.
"I didn't have any musicians close to me, including my family or relatives, but both my parents loved classical music and would watch music programs and go to concerts. Because of this, I naturally became interested in music from an early age. I still have a vague memory of my mother playing lullabies to put me to sleep, but without my mother knowing, I would change it to Bach's Clavier Partita or Vivaldi's The Four Seasons."
My first encounter with the piano was when my parents encouraged me to start with the piano, saying that if I loved music so much, I should do so.
As a result, he quickly fell in love with the piano, and in 2000, he won first place in the elementary school division of the All Japan Student Music Competition. He began to show his rich talent. He could have easily chosen to continue on the path of music. However, he went to Eiko Gakuen, a preparatory school in Kamakura City, for junior and senior high school.


Mr. Suzuki speaks gently and carefully, choosing his words carefully.
"There was a good school close by, so I thought it might be better to go there if I could take the entrance exam and get in. It was a practical decision in a sense. However, Eiko Gakuen had a relaxed atmosphere, and everyone had their own hobbies, while still studying hard. So I naturally continued to play music while studying. Of course, looking back, I probably should have spent more time on music back then, but in the end, I think it was the perfect balance in many ways."
After graduating from high school, he went to Paris. Unlike his classmates at Eiko Gakuen, he did not go to a regular university, nor to a music college in Japan, but instead decided to study music professionally abroad. What was behind this decision?
Meeting two teachers made him decide to become a pianist
"There were several factors, but the biggest one was when I took part in a competition when I was in junior high school, and received very positive feedback from the judge, Professor Bruno Rigutto, who would later study at the Paris Conservatoire. Since then, I became interested in what kind of person he was, so I went to meet him in person during the summer vacation of my first year of high school."
When it comes to studying abroad in music, it's not rare to decide on which teacher you want to study under, rather than which university. In Suzuki's case, it was Rigut's presence that led him to decide to study at the Paris Conservatoire.
However, it can also be said that Suzuki's connection with France began from a young age.
"My mother had also studied abroad in France, though not in music, and it was through her connections that I was able to meet Professor Rigut. When I think back to when I was a child, my mother would make me count from 20 to XNUMX in French while giving me a bath, and she would talk to me about France at every opportunity, so to me France was the equivalent of Europe or America, and so perhaps I had been mentally prepared for it without even realizing it."
He said he didn't experience any culture shock after moving to France.


A scene from the concert.
"I had a deep understanding of what it meant to study during my time at Eiko Gakuen, so it felt like learning piano was just an extension of that. There were of course many differences in terms of lifestyle as well, but differences are natural, and I thought that similar things would happen if I moved from the countryside to Tokyo to live alone. So, unlike in Japan, it didn't feel difficult at all."
However, the path to the Paris Conservatory, which has produced such historical musicians as Faure, Debussy, and Ravel in the past and is still attracting talented young performers, is not an easy one. Above all, even if you are able to enter, there is no guarantee that you will be able to make a living as a performer. Nevertheless, the words of a teacher at Eiko Gakuen played a major role in helping him decide to go to France.
"He told me that even if I went to Paris and decided to pursue a normal path, he would fully support me. In other words, I was able to make the decision knowing that it was an option in case I failed the entrance exam for the Paris Conservatory, or if I went there and decided after a year or two that it wasn't for me after all."
In fact, the conversation remained in the back of his mind even after he enrolled. However, when his second year was over, Rigut retired. By chance, Suzuki began studying under his successor, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, which dramatically changed his perspective.
By the way, Bresson is the nephew of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.
"From Professor Bresson, I learned how to create music spontaneously and from my own initiative. At the time, I had just begun to understand and master the content of my music analysis and music theory classes, and I wanted to put it into practice and apply it. Professor Bresson's classes were wonderful in that they combined what I wanted to express from musical scores with the academic knowledge I had learned up until then, and for the first time I felt that this was my career. It was not just that I liked the piano or that it was fun, but that for the first time I was able to grasp music independently, and I think that this was an important point in my life, marking the first step in my concrete goal of becoming a professional pianist."
They no longer feel any difference in nationality or culture and forget that they are Japanese.
As a result, Suzuki completed the first and second courses at the Paris Conservatory, which are equivalent to the bachelor's and master's degrees, before moving on to the even more difficult third course. The third course at the Paris Conservatory is, so to speak, a training course for performers. As a conservatory, students are given the opportunity to perform at various venues both in France and abroad, allowing them to gain performance experience.
In Suzuki's case, the opportunity led to more and more concert requests, and he naturally began performing in Paris. "I was lucky," Suzuki says, but it's only possible when talent and hard work come together. In addition, his liberal sensibility towards different cultures also seems to have played a positive role.
"After living in Paris for over 10 years, I stopped thinking about the differences in culture from country to country. I thought it was natural that they were different. In fact, there was a time when I stopped thinking about nationality at all until I had done a certain number of jobs in Japan. It didn't matter to me what country the new people I met were from. The first thing Professor Rigut told me when I studied abroad was to just talk to French people. He took the initiative to hold several parties for the students, but he would leave halfway through. So I had to speak French in a room where most people were French. That experience may have been one of the reasons why I was able to naturally accept cultural differences."


He says he would like to tackle Beethoven again in 2025.
Even in terms of performance, he says he has never been conscious of being Japanese.
However, when it comes to holding concerts, there are many moments when you can feel the differences between the countries. In other words, in Japan, everything from the setting up of the concert to the day itself is very well organized. In contrast, Europe is somewhat chaotic, so there are times when you have to follow up on your own. However, this is not a matter of which is better or worse, but rather is seen as a difference between the two. So, what does Suzuki think is good about Japan?
"It's an overwhelming respect for others. In a way, France has a survival of the fittest kind of feel, where you have to assert yourself to avoid any losses, rather than worrying about what other people think. If you're used to that, you'll find Japan to be a very pleasant place to be."
A special experience performing in the main hall of Kakuonji Temple in Kamakura
We also asked about the concert to be held at Kakuonji Temple's main hall in 2023.
"To be honest, I had no idea what it would be like until I actually performed it. The main hall of Kakuonji Temple is designed to allow natural breezes to pass through it. But when I actually performed there, it resonated but not too much, and I could hear the insects chirping while I was playing. It felt different from a music hall. Michel D'Alberto, who I performed with, said, 'Thank you. I've found a new sound.'"
Last year's participants were mostly foreign visitors to Japan. Not only did they get to listen to music in a historic space, but the chief priest of Kakuonji Temple welcomed the participants, explained about the temple, and there was a kodo (incense ceremony) experience. After the performance, everyone enjoyed a cocktail party and dinner held in the temple grounds, making it a special experience.
In addition, Suzuki will hold a solo concert at the temple's reception hall in September of this year. Suzuki hopes that by being in a historic space through the concert, he can provide new discoveries along with the music. His activities in Kamakura are likely to develop as well.


Classical Music Collection Japan 2023 at Kakuonji Temple, Kamakura.
"One of the joys of being a pianist is seeing and feeling the joy of the audience, so I would like to continue to inspire people through my performances. I would be happy if the people present at my concerts could feel even just a little richer in their hearts."
Finally, a message to those who are thinking of studying music abroad.
"The first thing to do is to learn the language. And not just English, but the language of the country you're studying in. If you go to a music university, the things your teachers tell you might be about the historical background or spiritual aspects of the piece, so if you don't understand the language, it's hard to understand, which can hinder your musical growth. It can also happen in everyday life, when you can't fully communicate what they're trying to say, which can lead to misunderstandings."
We look forward to seeing his future success.
Text by Misa Horiuchi
◆Classical Music Collection Japan 2024
[Date and time] Tuesday, November 2024, 11, 19:14-21:XNUMX
[Location] Kenchoji Temple
[Performers] Ryutaro Suzuki (piano), Shin Yumi (violin), Fumino Uemura (cello)
[Performance piece] Tchaikovsky's "Piano Trio"
[Schedule] 14:15 Walking around the grounds of Kenchoji Temple, 16:XNUMX Zen meditation experience, XNUMX:XNUMX Cocktail party,
17:18 Concert, 30:XNUMX Dinner by chef from Kamakura's French restaurant "Rene Inamuragasaki"
[Price] 950 euros (SINGLE) 1,700 euros (COUPLE)
Ryutaro Suzuki
Born in Kamakura. After graduating from Eiko Gakuen, he went to France in 2008 and studied under B. Rigutto, H. Cartier-Bresson, M. Dalberto, E. Virsaladze, and others at the Paris Conservatoire and the Fiesole Conservatoire. After winning numerous awards, he has been invited to major music festivals such as Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Festival de Nohant, and Ente Musicale di Nuoro, and has performed with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, Valencia Orchestra, Odesa National Orchestra, Colombia National Orchestra, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music, and in 2017 he released albums featuring Scarlatti, Mozart, Ravel, and Liszt, and in 2020 he released albums featuring Debussy, Ibert, and Naotada Odaka. In 2016, he also gave the world premiere of "Jazz Etude" by the famous French contemporary composer T. Escaich. In 2023, he released his third solo album, recorded live in Italy.
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