From left: Jacob Niemann, Kentaro Machida, Wei Lin, Eigo Sato, Hyungsup Lim/©Taira Tairadate

Hyungsup Lim, Wei Lin, Kentaro Machida, Jacob Niemann and Eigo Sato have been selected after the auditions by Maestro Riccardo Muti.
They will participate Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy in Tokyo vol.5 "Simon Boccanegra", and will receive instruction from Riccardo Muti for nearly two weeks starting today.

Hyungsup Lim
He is a Korean conductor and Music Director of the CHAM Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied with Jahbom Koo and has participated in masterclasses with Jukka-Pekka Saraste and others. He has conducted at the Seoul Arts Center and the National Theater of Korea, and at international festivals including Dartington and Aurora. He graduated from the clarinet department of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Wei Lin
He is a Chinese conductor and completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he studied conducting under Prof. CHEN Lin (Lin Chen), a former student of Maestro Seiji Ozawa. He is currently studying with Finnish conductor Prof. Ari Rasilainen at the University of Music Würzburg, Germany. In 2025, he won the First Prize at the 7th Bucharest International Conducting Competition.

Kentaro Machida
He is a winner of the 7th International Athens Conducting Competition. He graduated from the University of Oxford and completed the master’s program in conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is currently studying in the Advanced Professional Training Programme at Universität der Künste Berlin. He has conducted orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Jacob Niemann
He is an American conductor and was awarded three-times the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. He graduated as Conducting Fellow from the Curtis Institute of Music. He studied for three summers at the Aspen Music Festival & School, and became the festival’s Assistant Conductor in 2023. Next December, he will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra as a selected participant of the 18th Donatella Flick Conducting Competition.

Eigo Sato
He graduated from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and completed the conductor training program at Tokyo College of Music. In 2020, he founded VariOrchestra. He conducted “Le nozze di Figaro” (excerpts), with the Osaka Symphony Orchestra in Ban Tetsuro Opera Seminar III. He competed in the finals of the 3rd International Opera Conducting Competition. Furthermore, he has experience in a financial team at a major consulting firm.