Stephen Charette, conductor
Having roots in both the United States and Japan, Stephen Charette now resides in Tokyo and has been an active conductor ever since. In the 2012 season, he was invited by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra to conduct its outreach concerts and assist principal conductor Dan Ettinger in preparing for the Family Orchestra Concert series. Upcoming projects include assisting Maestro Masahiro Sato in Akira Miyoshi’s Opera “Faraway Sail” with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra.
Stephen Charette was also invited to Korea to take part in the first Incheon and Arts Festival with masterclasses held by Maestro Myung-Whun Chung and Arild Remmereit. Other masterclasses participated in were with Zsolt Nagy, András Ligeti, Douglas Bostock, Tadaaki Otaka, Junichi Hirokami, and Michiyoshi Inoue.
Orchestra's that Stephen has appeared with include the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra, Geidai Philharmonia, Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra, Nerima Symphony Orchestra, Edogawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Setagaya Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Friendship Orchestra, Yokkaichi Symphony Orchestra and the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus. He has also worked with youth and college orchestra's throughout Japan including the Funabashi Youth Symphony Orchestra, Sumida Triphony Hall Junior Orchestra, Kanazawa University Philharmonic Orchestra and Tsukuba University Orchestra. Stephen currently holds the position of Prinicipal Conductor of the Edogawa Philharmonic Orchestra.
Stephen Charette was born in Washington and grew up in Michigan. He attended the Interlochen Arts Academy to study clarinet and piano, and then attended The Cleveland Institute of Music to continue his clarinet studies with principal clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra, Franklin Cohen. He studied conducting at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music and received his Master of Music in Conducting in 2008. Teacher's studied with include Kotaro Sato, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Odano, Yoshikazu Tanaka and Yoko Matsuo.