MORIHIKO NAKAHARA has extended his contract as music director of the South Carolina Philharmonic through the 2021-22 season. He joined the Columbia, South Carolina-based orchestra in 2008. Nakahara is in his fifteenth season with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, first as associate conductor and then as resident conductor; he is also among the candidates to succeed departing Music Director Ekart Preu. Recent guest conducting engagements include the Buffalo Philharmonic and the orchestras of Oregon, Charleston, Chattanooga, Lansing, Peoria, and Green Bay. Nakahara has led world premieres of works by Joan Tower, Dan Visconti, and John Fitz Rogers, and is active as a clinician and lecturer. Nakahara participated in the League of American Orchestras’ Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview in 2005, hosted by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He subsequently led the Jacksonville Symphony on a regular basis and served as its associate conductor during the 2007-08 season. A native of Japan, Nakahara holds degrees from Andrews University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He previously served as music director of the Holland Symphony Orchestra in Michigan.
Posted September 11, 2018
