Ryo Hasegawa, conductor
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Driven by a vision to transform the concert experience, Ryo Hasegawa currently serves as Music Director of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra (Indiana) and Conductor of the Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra, and Chair & Founder of Mudita Corporation. Known for his dynamic presence, inventive programming, and ability to connect deeply with both musicians and audiences, Hasegawa has performed extensively across the U.S., Europe, and Asia and launched versatile projects promoting interdisciplinary collaboration.
Most recently, Hasegawa made his debut with the Orchestre Métropolitain at Domaine Forget de Charlevoix, selected to conduct by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He also made a sensational debut at Carnegie Hall with the Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra. In 2023, he was named the David Efron Conducting Fellow at the Chautauqua Institution, where he led the Music School Festival Orchestra. Other recent highlights include international guest conducting debut with the Hamburg Symphony in Germany and the Tacet(i) Ensemble in Thailand. He is also an active guest assistant conductor with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Washington Choral Arts, American Composers Orchestra, and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. He worked both as a conductor and as an assistant with esteemed artists including his mentor Marin Alsop, Eric Jacobsen, Ken Lam, Joseph Young, Anna Clyne, Conrad Tao, and The Westerlies.
Hasegawa made his American debut with the Charleston Symphony in 2019. He maintains a strong relationship with the orchestra, regularly conducting their Family Concerts, Young People’s Concerts, and other community concerts. His past engagements include guest conducting members of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, guest conducting Molodechno Symphony (Belarus), PHASE ensemble (Austria), and Shamisen Ensemble Otoha (Japan).
Equally at home in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Hasegawa has conducted full productions of Hansel and Gretel at Annapolis Opera and Peabody Opera Theater across Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington D.C. He also served as assistant conductor for productions of Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi at Chautauqua Opera Conservatory.
As an advocate of the music of his native Japan, Hasegawa has led several U.S. premieres of works by Japanese composers, including Near Away Home Town by Dai Fujikura and Japanese Suite for Strings by Akira Ifukube with the Peabody Orchestra. In 2021, he was invited as a guest conductor to the Thailand New Music and Arts, where he premiered Onokoro Concerto for Hichiriki by Masatora Goya. In 2022, he premiered Gura Gura for the Shamisen Ensemble Otoha by Piyawat Louilarpprasert in Tokyo, Japan. As Artistic Director and Founder of the Inter-Asian Cultural Expo at Johns Hopkins University, he led the event for three seasons to foster connection through music and art in the Asian community in Baltimore. The Expo received the Peabody Georgie Awards for Student Program of the Year in both 2022 and 2024.
Hasegawa is also deeply engaged music education. He was a volunteer music instructor at the Vanessa Grant Girls’ School in Rongai, Kenya, where he helped build the school’s music program. He has served as assistant conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Peabody Youth Orchestra, and has been a frequent guest lecturer at the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music in Bangkok, Thailand, where he explores new and evolving roles for conductors with the students.
To further promote accessibility and diversity with music and art, Hasegawa founded the Mudita Japan, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to music and ats education in Japan. Building on its success, he launched Mudita America in Orlando, Florida - a multidisciplinary artist collective focused on cross-genre, cross-cultural collaboration, aimed at reimagining how artists and communities engage with music. Under his innovative leadership, Mudita continues to grow both nationally and internationally.
Born and raised in Kanagawa, Japan, Hasegawa returned to music after an early career as a semi-professional motorcycle racer. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Rollins College, where he received the 2022 Alumni Achievement Award. His additional training includes the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Conducting Masterclass and National Symphony Orchestra Conducting Masterclass with Marin Alsop, the Masterclass with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Kensho Watanabe at Domaine Forget de Charlevoix, and the Peabody Conducting Studio Masterclass with Dalia Stasevska, Gemma New, Rune Bergmann, Kevin John Edusei, Jonathon Heyward, Kirill Karabits, Mei-Ann Chen, and Fabien Gable, and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra Conducting Workshop with Markand Thakar.