The life of maestro Keitaro Harada has been marked by fate. From his fairy tale marriage to the time he was asked to conduct the final opera performance at Tanglewood, it seems like destiny has always been guiding Harada, music and artistic director for the Savannah Philharmonic.
One of the most fated episodes in the 36-year-old conductor’s life was when the Savannah Philharmonic was planning to audition several candidates for a new music director in the fall of 2019. Harada was not one of them.
In the spring of 2019, six months before the search was to begin, the Savannah Philharmonic called Harada to see if he could conduct the last two concerts of the 2018-2019 season because the music director at the time was indisposed.
“I said, sure, I’d love to come in,” Harada said. “I love Savannah. It’s beautiful there. So I worked with the orchestra for just under a week, and after the concert, they offered me the job.”
There were supposed to be eight candidates auditioning for the music director’s job, but Harada snuck in front of all of them.
“I had an immediate chemistry with the organization, the board and the search committee,” he said. “I obviously feel bad for the other candidates, but I think it all just kind of made perfect sense for everyone. Fate is fate.”
June 18, 2021 – Patrick Neas