Principal Guest Conductor
Pascal Verrot

Born in 1959 in Lyon, France, Pascal Verrot studied at the Sorbonne and at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique where he was awarded a top prize for conducting.
He came to the notice of Seiji Ozawa during the Tokyo International Conducting Competition in 1985 in which he won a special prize, and became his assistant at the Boston Symphony orchestra from 1986 to 1990.
Since then, his career has progressed rapidly. From 1991 to 1997, he was musical director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, which has the longest history among Canadian orchestras. And he was chief conductor of the Shinsei Nihon Symphony Orchestra in Japan. In France, he was musical director of the Orchestre de Picardie, artistic director of the Thétre Impérial de Compiègne, and Musical Director of the Opéra de Dijon.
Pascal Verrot has also conducted opera productions, in particular “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss at the Lyon Opera in 1987, and “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique to celebrate the year of Mozart in 1991. With Metz Opera, he has also conducted “Cosi fan tutte”, “Don Giovanni” and “Le Nozze di Figaro” by Mozart from 1996 to 1999, Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy in 1998, “Don Quichotte” by Massenet and conducted again the Mozart / Da Ponte trilogy in 2001, as well as two ballets: “Daphnis and Chloé” by Ravel and “Le Festin de l'Araignée (The Spider’s Feast)” by Roussel. He has also conducted Gounod's “Faust” for the Opening of the New Shanghai Opera Theatre. In Tokyo he has conducted “Le Nozze di Figaro”, “Don Giovanni”, “Cosi fan tutte” in 2004 and 2006. In 2004 he conducted “Don Giovanni” and “Madama Butterfly” by Puccini at the Opéra de Lille, and made this production again at the Opéra de Nantes. In 2005 he conducted at the Opéra de Nancy. In 2006 “Die Zauberflöte” by Mozart at the Opéra de Lille and “Werther” by Massenet at the Opéra de Bordeaux. In 2007 “L’Italienne á Alger ” by Rossini at the Opéra de Lille and at the Maison de le Culture d’Amiens.
In 2009-2010 he was involved in the production of “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” by Weill, “Médecin malgré lui” by Gounod and “Eugène Onéguine” by Tchaikovsky.
He was awarded with the Claude Rostand prize, granted by the "Professional Union of critics" for Prokovief’s “L'amore delle tre melarance” performed at the Opéra de Dijon in May 2010. He has been principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has been chief conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) from 2006 and attracting audience with his vigorous conducting. He conducted “Pelléas et Mélisande” (all acts, in concert style) by Debussy at the 250th SPO subscription concert in Oct, 2010 in Sendai.
He recorded with SPO “La mer” by Debussy, and “Symphony in D minor” by Franck (both released from Fontec) which are receiving high commendation.