ABOUT

German-born conductor Erina Yashima was the First Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin from 2022 to 2024 and has worked with many renowned ensembles, orchestras and opera companies worldwide. 

In the 24/25 season, she will make her debut with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Münchner Symphoniker and in Japan with Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and Kobe City Chamber Orchestra. She will also return to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Orchestra della Toscana. On the opera stage, Yashima will debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago with a production of Le Nozze di Figaro, Opera Australia with a production of La Boheme and the Irish National Opera with a production of L’elisir d’amore.

Recent highlights include performances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Arena di Verona, WDR Funkhausorchester, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Nürnberger Symphoniker and the Tonkünstler-Orchester.  

Erina Yashima is equally at home in music theatre and on the concert stage. The 2023/24 season saw Yashima debut at the English National Opera with The Magic Flute  and at the Bregenz Festival with Der Freischütz. As First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin, she conducted Rusalka, Hamlet, Così fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte as well as the world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin's Nils Holgersson, and various concert programmes. In 2022, she made her debut with a new production of Mozart's Così fan tutte by the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center and conducted Rusalka at the Theater Krefeld Mönchengladbach. In Italy, she conducted Don Giovanni at the Ravenna Festival and in Rimini in 2022 and a new production of the same work at the Teatro Verdi di Pisa in 2020. She also conducted the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in a production of Le nozze di Figaro in Novara and Ravenna in 2019 and La Cenerentola, first in Lucca and Ravenna in 2017 and then in Piacenza with the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in 2018. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2017 with a production of Der Schauspieldirektor for children. In 2015, she worked as répétiteur with conducting duties at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern.

From 2019 to 2022, Yashima was Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where she assisted Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and other guest conductors and conducted various concert programmes herself. Riccardo Muti has been an important mentor for Erina Yashima since 2015. As a scholarship holder of the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she assisted Riccardo Muti and worked regularly with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as with many renowned guest soloists and conductors, including Yo-Yo Ma, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach and Edward Gardner.

As part of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, Erina Yashima performed with the Camerata Salzburg at the 2018 Salzburg Festival. In the same year, she also assisted Zubin Mehta and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Other orchestras she has performed with include the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Transylvania State Philharmonic of Cluj-Napoca, the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt (Oder), the Aspen Chamber Symphony, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, the Rostov State Philharmonic, the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, the Albany Symphony, the Eugene Symphony and the World Youth Symphony Orchestra in Interlochen.

In 2015, Erina Yashima took part in the Italian Opera Academy in Ravenna, where she worked on Verdi's Falstaff together with Riccardo Muti, as well as a masterclass with Bernard Haitink at the Lucerne Festival and the INTERAKTION workshop.

Erina Yashima began her training at the Institut zur Früh-Förderung musikalisch Hochbegabter (IFF) at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in her home town of Hanover and studied piano with Bernd Goetzke. She received her first conducting lessons at the age of 14. After studying in Freiburg with Scott Sandmeier and in Vienna with Mark Stringer, she completed her conducting studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin with Christian Ehwald and Hans-Dieter Baum.

 October 2024

For an updated biography, please contact Askonas Holt:

JO FRY, Associate Director | Jo.fry@askonasholt.com | +44 (0)20 7400 1700

DORA MICHAEL, Assistant Artist Manager | dora.michael@askonasholt.com