About Jotaro

Japanese American Conductor and Music Director Jotaro Nakano creates music to bring our worlds closer. His performances are frequently praised for thoughtful and innovative programming that is as artistically beautiful as is resonant and heartwarming.

Currently, Jotaro directs the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of Boston’s medical and healthcare communities; and the SA’Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival Orchestra, the first tuition-free chamber string music festival in Oaxaca, Mexico. Jotaro’s continued leadership within these organizations come as natural continuations of his mission as an impassioned citizen artist who seeks to connect and inspire diverse communities with the deeply transformative and uplifting powers of music.

As a child of Japanese immigrants - a jazz drumming father and a dancing pianist mother - Jotaro enjoyed a vibrantly multicultural and artistically wide-ranging childhood that fostered a unique curiosity to explore all of the world’s expressions.

Previously, while completing his doctorate at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Jotaro led numerous community wellbeing projects as the Arts in Health Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. With this position, Jotaro collaborated with medical doctors and hospital leaders to explore the many intersections between the arts and healthcare fields. Now, in his capacity as Music Director of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, Jotaro continues this work by leading partnerships with every major hospital in Boston to bring heartfelt and restorative performances to doctors, patients, and families in fragile circumstances. With the Longwood Symphony, Jotaro also leads the Healing Art of MusicTM program, leveraging the far reaching platform of his orchestra concerts to help raise millions of dollars for medical nonprofit organizations. Jotaro’s passion for community focused artistic initiatives has led him to speak, consult, and collaborate with organizations across the musical landscape, including the League of American Orchestras, the National Organization for Arts in Health, and Carnegie Hall’s Well-Being Concert Series.

Since its founding in 2019, Jotaro has served as Orchestra Director of SA’Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival. Its mission is to provide “excellent educational opportunities to underserved Mexican string instrumentalists, and increase the study and promotion of Latin American and Hispanic chamber music compositions.” Through this large-scale international cultural exchange, Jotaro has taught and performed alongside hundreds of wonderfully talented young Latin American music students, premiered new works by Mexican composers, and now looks forward to returning to Oaxaca every summer.

Jotaro completed his doctorate at the Peabody Conservatory of Music under the mentorship of Maestra Marin Alsop. Previously, Jotaro served as the Music Director of the Ann Arbor Camerata; Cover Conductor for the Baltimore Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and San Diego Symphony; and Conducting Fellow of the Long Beach Symphony. His international musical life has allowed him to travel and perform in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Romania, and across the United States. With every new community he meets, Jotaro remains committed to maximize artistic collaboration to fill the world with wonder and hope.