Conductor Taijiro Iimori died from acute heart failure on Tuesday. He was 82. The late conductor studied at Toho Gakuen College and then honed his skills in the United States. He went on to win prizes at the Dimitri Mitropoulos International Music Competition for Conductors (1966), and at the First Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition (1969).
He was a music assistant at the Bayreuth Festival for more than 20 years from 1970. He later became a strong advocate of Wagner’s music in Japan.
From 1978 to 1983 he was principal conductor of the Opera Forum Enschede in Holland, where he was also active as a conductor of the Enschede City Conservatory Orchestra until 1995.
Iimori served as the artistic director of opera at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, from 2014 to 2018 and held posts at many orchestras, including the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra.
Until his death Taijiro Iimori held the positions of Chief Conductor at the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Honorary Conductor Laureate at the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra.
