Tadaaki Otaka

‘If ever there was a really right appointment at the right time, it was Tadaaki Otaka,’ says Huw Tregelles Williams, former head of music at BBC Cymru Wales. Otaka came to Cardiff from the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in Japan and, over his eight years as principal conductor of the BBC NOW (1987-95), raised the orchestra to new levels and widened its repertoire. Immensely popular with players and audiences alike, he enjoyed the nickname ‘Chu’. He was appointed a CBE in 1997 and continues to work with the orchestra regularly as its conductor laureate.