These concerts are the North Carolina Symphony debut for Erina Yashima.

German-born conductor Erina Yashima is the First Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin. She was Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2019 to 2022, where she assisted Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and conducted the orchestra in various programs.

Recent highlights include debuts with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Orchestra della Toscana, Arena di Verona, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Albany Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, as well as returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and The Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition to programs at Komische Oper Berlin including their 75th Anniversary Gala, her 22/23 season included a production of Don Giovanni performed at the Ravenna Festival, Teatro Galli in Rimini, and Teatro Verdi in Salerno.

As winner of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship in 2015, Yashima assisted Riccardo Muti, worked closely with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and collaborated with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. As one of the three finalists of the prestigious Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, she performed with the Camerata Salzburg at the Salzburg Festival 2018.

Other orchestras that Yashima has performed with include the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Transylvania State Philharmonic of Cluj-Napoca, and Rostov State Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra.

Yashima began her musical studies at the Institute for the Early Advancement of the Musically Highly Gifted (IFF Hannover) in her hometown of Hannover and had her first conducting lessons at the age of 14. She completed her studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music, Berlin.