In 2002 Kazushi Ono was appointed Music Director of La Monnaie, the Royal Opera House of Belgium, succeeding Antonio Pappano. This followed appointments as General Music Director of the the Baden-Württemberg State Theatre in Karlsruhe from 1996 to 2001, Chief Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra from 1990 – 1996 and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra where he was Principal Conductor from 1992 and where he still holds the position of Conductor Laureate and Artistic Advisor.
In addition to his activities at La Monnaie he frequently guest conducts with orchestras such as the NDR Hamburg, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, RAI di Torino, Ensemble Intercontemporain, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein. This season he makes his debut at the Chatelet in Paris with Henze The Bassarids with the Orchestre Philharmonique.
Born in Tokyo, Kazushi began his training as a conductor at the State High School for Fine Arts and Music. He also studied with Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Festival and with Wolfgang Sawallisch and Giuseppe Patane at the Bavarian State Opera, going on to win First Prize in the Arturo Toscanini Competition in 1987.