Wakasugi, Hiroshi (1935– )

Japanese conductor. He conducted the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra (1975–77) and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (1977–83), and was music director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (1982–87). He has appeared as guest conductor with the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Montreal and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. He made his US debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in 1981. From 1985 he was chief conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich, and of the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra between 1987 and 1991. He led the Japanese first performances of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder/Songs of Gurre and Pelléas und Mellisande, and operas by Strauss and Wagner.