Super Conductor
Meet Keitaro Harada
Running with headphones on is something thousands of people do every day. It seems an unlikely circumstance to change someone’s life, but that’s what happened to Keitaro Harada. Born and raised in Tokyo, Harada moved to Michigan to attend high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy. His goal was to be part of a pit orchestra on Broadway. He was exercising between classes when he was stopped in his tracks.
“The radio station was playing a piece of music I’d never heard before, and it brought me to tears,” Harada recalls. “As it ended, they said it was from Puccini’s La Bohème. I thought, ‘This is incredible. This is what I want to do—conduct that music.’ From there on, I did everything I could to become a conductor.
Harada has achieved his dream many times over. He is currently the conductor for four orchestras around the world: the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Aichi Chamber Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic, and—as local music lovers already know—the Savannah Philharmonic.
“My philosophy in Savannah is music for the sake of music, and having something for everyone,” he says.
Reaching A Crescendo
Harada didn’t grow up in a musical family. But seeing a live production of West Side Story as a boy gave him the dream to perform in Broadway musicals.
“But I realized I was not that good of a singer or dancer,” he says with a laugh. “I picked up the saxophone, which is the main instrument in the opening of West Side Story. By high school, I was playing multiple instruments, completely self-taught.”
Maestro Frederick Fennell, one of Harada’s high school teachers, gave him the chance to conduct the encore of an orchestra performance. That moment solidified the emotions that overtook him when he heard Puccini on the radio.
“I knew then that God had sent me here to do this,” he says.
Something Magical
While studying conducting in Russia during college, Harada met Adrian Gnam, the conductor of the Macon Symphony Orchestra. Harada transferred to Mercer University in Macon and was mentored by Gnam. After graduation, Harada was soon conducting orchestras in different cities around the world. He didn’t plan to return to Georgia, but when he was asked to step in for a concert with the Savannah Philharmonic, something clicked for both Harada and the orchestra.
“I remember the first rehearsal, thinking, ‘This feels good,’” Harada says. “There was something magical there.”
The Savannah Philharmonic felt it too, and asked Harada to become its Music and Artistic Director.
“For me it was serendipitous because my career started in Georgia,” Harada says. “I wanted to come back, to be able to give back.”
Making music accessible to the community is a large part of the mission of Harada and the Savannah Philharmonic. The organization provides education and music instruction across the region, from the Ben Tucker Instrument Library to small group instruction and an ever-growing strings program.
Every year, the Philharmonic invites students in the strings program to play at Phil the Park, the free community concert held each October in Forsyth Park.
“They can’t play that well yet, but it doesn’t matter,” Harada says. “They get to be on the Jumbotron and play for 25,000 people. It’s an experience they would never get otherwise. That’s the kind of thing that can change a person’s life forever.”
A Major Lift
The effect of music on young people is part of Harada’s overall vision. He worries about the mental health of children who were born into the era of constant social media.
“When I work with college and high school students, I feel like I am seeing more symptoms of anxiety and depression,” he says. “There’s no turning back from how we live now, but I think we could be more conscious of what we’re doing.”
Harada believes that trading the smartphone for headphones once in a while can contribute to a person’s sense of wellbeing. 
“Music can be a vehicle to help ease the pain,” Harada says. “Sometimes just lyrics can make you feel better, like when an artist sings about how it’s okay to be this way or that way. It’s about finding the right kind of vibe, and it doesn’t matter if other people don’t like it.
If orchestral music can bring that kind of uplifting, positive energy to Savannah, then Harada wants to deliver it with the highest quality possible, for people of all ages.
“You’re not really giving much to the community if the quality isn’t there,” he says. “Part of making music more accessible to Savannah is offering it at the highest level.”
Learn more about the Savannah Philharmonic on their website.