The first prize winner of the prestigious Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition in Germany, Shizuo Z Kuwahara is the music director of Symphony Orchestra Augusta (SOA), formally known as The Augusta Symphony.  Prior to SOA, Mr. Kuwahara was associated as a conducting staff with Philadelphia Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Pacific Music Festival, Saito Kinen Festival, IPPO Philharmoniker, College of William & Mary and American University.

In Philadelphia, he was an apprentice to the Music Director Christoph Eschenbach and directed the orchestra in family and student concerts as well as covering for additional performances.  In the summer of 2008, he was an assistant conductor at Saito Kinen Festival, assisting Seiji Ozawa and conducting the Ozawa Jyuku Orchestra.  He spent summer of 2006 in Sapporo, Japan where he was an assistant conductor to Valery Gergiev at Pacific Music Festival.

Frequent guest conductor of the Japan Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Mr. Kuwahara will make a debut with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Frankfurt Museum Orchestra this season.  His past guest conducting appearances include Tokyo Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Century Orchestra Osaka, Omaha Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Philharmonia Slaska, Sinfonieorchester den Nationalen Philharmonischen Gesellshaft der Uklaine Kiew, German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Chattanooga Symphony and Baltimore Symphony.

In addition to winning the first prize at Solti Competition, he has won awards at numerous international conducting competitions, including Malko International Conducting Competition, Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting, Prokofiev International Conducting Competition and Fitelberg International Competition.  He is also a recipient of Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Born in Tokyo, Mr. Kuwahara studied conducting at Yale University, where he was awarded the Charles Ives Scholarship and won the Eleozar de Carvalho Prize.  At Eastman School of Music, he was awarded the George Eastman Scholarship, Performer's Certificate,  and Arts Leadership Program Certificate.  Mr. Kuwahara has also studied with Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, David Effron, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Timothy Muffitt and Michael Jinbo at various conducting institutions, including Aspen Festival, National Conducting Institute, Pierre Monteux School, and Chautauqua Music Institute.