Conductor & Trainers

Conductor and Oboe Soloist 

Kenichi Furube

Kenichi Furube began studying the oboe at the age of fourteen and conducting at fifteen. While still a student at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he was appointed Principal Oboist of the New Japan Philharmonic under Music Director Seiji Ozawa — a position in which he made distinguished contributions for thirty years until March 2020. 

He has also served as Guest Principal Oboist with leading orchestras such as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie‑Orchester Berlin, and as a Visiting Professor at his alma mater, the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. He is widely recognized as one of Japan’s foremost virtuosos.

Furube has appeared as guest principal and soloist with numerous chamber orchestras in Japan and abroad, including the Orchestra da Camera Italiana, the Orchestra della Scala String Ensemble, the Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble.

In the field of Baroque music, his duo performances with Christine Schornsheim — one of Germany’s leading harpsichordists — have earned high acclaim through concerts in Japan and internationally, including at the Leipzig Bach Museum.

He is a regular soloist and chamber musician at major festivals such as La Folle Journée Tokyo, the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival (formerly the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto), the Miyazaki International Music Festival, and the Kiso Music Festival.

Furube currently serves as Professor at the Tokyo College of Music, Special Lecturer at Soai University, and Visiting Professor at Sapporo Otani University. 

He has long been a jury member for competitions including the International Oboe Competition Tokyo and the Japan Music Competition. 

In addition to concerto appearances and conducting engagements with orchestras in Japan and overseas, he has conducted ensembles such as the Shizuoka Symphony Orchestra, the Siena Wind Orchestra, and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.

In 2000, he received the 10th Idemitsu Music Prize.