Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan

The Bach Collegium Japan was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki, who now leads the ensemble together with principal conductor Masato Suzuki. Bringing together some of the world’s foremost early music specialists, the ensemble is dedicated to historically informed performances of Bach’s works on period instruments. Renowned on the world’s leading stages, the ensemble’s recordings with BIS Records are considered benchmarks in Baroque interpretation. Their complete recording of Bach’s church cantatas earned the prestigious ECHO Klassik award for Best Recording Project of the Year. Masaaki Suzuki himself has received numerous international honors, including the Bach Medal from Leipzig, the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize, and the Federal Cross of Merit from Germany. The Times praised his interpretations as “precise and clean, solemn and rigorous, yet charged with spiritual vitality.”