Bio
Takako Yanagida-Lordly is a soprano singer. She is well known for her exquisite voice, onstage charisma and exceptional interpretations of Japanese Art Song. Yanagida-Lordly studied at the Kunitachi College of Music, Japanese National Institute for Opera in Tokyo, and in Vienna, with the renowned tenor Anton Dermota on a Japanese government fellowship. She was the Gold Medallist in the Kansai Japan-Italy Concorso, featured in the Kunitachi College of Music’s 60th Anniversary Festival, and profiled in the NHK Promising Artist series. Her career highlights include Venus in Nikikai Opera’s Tannhäuser under Tadaaki Otaka, soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Luna in R. Murray Schafer’s opera Hermes Trismegistos, and the lead role Amaterasu in the premiere of Ikuma Dan’s Susano-o. Ikuma Dan later honoured Takako by personally introducing each piece for her homecoming recital in Sasebo.
On New Year’s Eve 1999, Yanagida-Lordly was Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus with the Vienna Volksoper at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. The Yomiuri newspaper wrote of her in Mozart’s Il nozze di Figaro, ‘her Cherubino was ideal!’ Yanagida-Lordly has enjoyed a long-running recital series in Kobe and Osaka associated with Ryohei Koiso Museum of Art. On her hometown Sasebo’s invitation, Yanagida-Lordly set to music the poem Kujukushima – mittsu no uta (“Kujukushima – Three Songs”) performed for the Kujukushima National Park’s 60th anniversary. When not on stage, Yanagida-Lordly maintains a busy schedule with her private students and as Music Director of the Choir Trillium, a Toronto-based Japanese women’s choir. Yanagida-Lordly continues to perform in Canada and Japan. She recently charmed audiences with stunning performances in Toronto and in Makurazaki, Japan. Recordings include Takako in Recital, recorded live at the Glenn Gould Studio, Sakura, which continues her mission to bring Japanese art song to a wider audience, and Peace, released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
