The Mercerian
International Rising Star Credits Mercer with Shaping His Career
By Denise Cook

On May 12, music performance major Keitaro Harada received his Mercer diploma with the rest of the
inaugural graduating class of Townsend School of Music. For most seniors, this day is the highlight of their year. For Harada, this was just another appearance on his busy calendar.

“It is such a beautiful collaboration between Mercer and the Macon Symphony Orchestra
that attracts conductors from around the world.”

In addition to his accomplishments as a saxophonist, Harada is quickly developing a distinguished reputation around the world as a gifted conductor. In the first half of 2007 alone, he has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments for a professional musician, all the while being a full-time college student.

“In January, I was one of 10 conductors invited from around the world to travel to Canada for the opportunity to work with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Opera,” Harada said. He was coached by Jorma Panula and Raffi Armenian at the Conductors Guild International Conference Jan. 17-21. Days prior, Harada took home his second consecutive win at Mercer’s annual International Conductors Workshop. While most college students trek to the beach in March for spring break, Harada traveled to Ohio to study with Leonard Slatkin of the National Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Meier of Johns Hopkins University — Peabody Conservatory, Emily Freeman Brown of Bowling GreenState University and Samuel Adler of The Juilliard School. “I was invited by the Conductors Guild to participate as a Tier One conductor at the workshop held at Bowling Green State University,” he
explained. In April, Harada gave two saxophone performances at Little Carnegie of
the South in Macon, and, in May, he successfully completed his first season as a conductor for the newly-created Mercer/ Macon Symphony Youth Orchestra (MMSYO). “It was a lot of fun spending last summer recruiting students from all over middle Georgia,” Harada said. The orchestra ended its season with 40 members and performed five concerts, including a collaboration with the Mercer University Orchestra, First Presbyterian Day School Choir and the Macon Symphony Orchestra (MSO).
Along the way, Harada was promoted from an apprentice conductor to assistant conductor of the
MSO. Somehow, he also found time to go to class and graduate college. But all of that is justgravy. Harada considers the greatest highlight of his young career to be his conducting experiences in Russia. In 2006, Harada was one of 14 conductors from 11 countries invited to participate in the International Masterclass for Orchestral Conducting under the direction of world- renowned maestro Vladimir Ponkin. Ponkin is principal conductor at the Helikon Opera Moscow and the State Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Philharmonic, professor of conducting at Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, Moscow, and artistic director and principal conductor of the National Academic Folk Orchestra of Russia. “We spent the first week with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra under the tutelage of maestro Ponkin. All of us gave a final concert at the end of the week,” said Harada, who was then chosen by Ponkin to travel to Krasnodar to conduct the Kuban Symphony Orchestra with the maestro. “That concert was sold out, televised and broadcast on the radio,” Harada explained. “We also did magazine photo shoots.” Additionally, the young conductor was chosen as the best participant
of the master class and was invited to guest conduct during the Moscow Symphony Orchestra’s 2006-07 season. In October, he returned to conduct the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and secured yet another engagement as a guest conductor for the 2007-08 season.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, he came to the U.S. in 2002 to attend Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He studied orchestral conducting and majored in saxophone, graduating in 2004. In the summer of 2004, Harada was invited to participate as a student conductor at the Spoleto Opera Festival and the Conductors Institute in South Carolina. That fall, he enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, pursuing a double- major in saxophone performance and music history. In January of 2005, Harada met Maestro Adrian Gnam, artist-in-residence at Mercer and music
director and conductor for the MSO, at Mercer’s International Conductors Workshop, and they became
friends immediately. Harada enjoyed Gnam’s mentorship immensely and instantly decided to move to Macon to continue studying under him at Mercer. “Without my encounter with maestro Adrian Gnam
at the 2005 International Conductors Workshop and again in St. Petersburg, Russia, that summer, none of my music accomplishments and development would have happened,” the humble artist explained. “It is such a beautiful collaboration between Mercer and the MSO that attracts conductors from around the world. Without it, I would not be at Mercer.”

The new Mercer graduate had a short break before traveling to Guangzhou, China, in July for the APEI International Music and Arts Festival and then to Massachusetts in August for the Tanglewood Music Festival. “I enjoyed spending time with my family in Tokyo and recovering from the craziness I went through last semester finishing my bachelor’s degree and beginning my master’s degree at the
same time,” he said. Harada returned to Macon in August to conduct his second season with the
MSO and the MMSYO. He will also be completing his master’s degree at Townsend School of Music.

A complete listing of Harada’s accomplishments and performances is
available at www.kharada.com.

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