The flautist Kazunori Seo was born in Kitakyushu (Japan) in 1974. He studied flute in Paris with Raymond Guiot, Kurt Redel, Patrick Gallois, Benoît Fromanger and Alain Marion at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, where he was awarded the Premier Prix in flute in 1998. He also studied chamber music with Pascal Le Corre, Emmanuel Nunès, Christian Ivaldi, and Ami Flammer, and was awarded the Premier Prix in chamber music at the Conservatoire in 1999. He concluded his Conservatoire studies with Maurice Bourgue.
His impressive list of awards in many international competitions includes Second Prize and the Audience Prize at the First Carl Nielsen International Flute Competition (1998, Odense/Denmark), Second Prize (no First Prize being awarded) at the Fifth Jean-Pierre Rampal International Flute Competition (1998, Paris), and the French Music Prize at the Tenth Henri Sauguet International Competition of Chamber Music (1999, Martigues/France).
Kazunori Seo has won attention as one of the world’s outstanding young flautists through numerous appearances as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has performed with Patrick Gallois, Juhani Largerspetz, Jean-Michel Damase, Emile Naoumoff, Maurice Bourgue, Jörg Demus, the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia, the Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, among others, in Europe, in Asia, and in the United States.
In 2005 he won the Pro Musicis International Award in Paris and gave recitals in Paris (Salle Cortot), New York (Carnegie, Weill Recital Hall), Boston, and Tokyo as the artist of Pro Musicis Foundation. His discography includes world première recordings of Leopold Hofmann's flute concertos (Naxos 8.554747 and 8.554748), and concertos by Ibert, Nielsen and Rodrigo.
