Chikara Imamura was born in Osaka, Japan in 1954 and completed a multi-faceted musical education in piano, vocal, instrument and composition. He studied at the Kunitachi College of Music and Tohogakuen in Tokyo. In 1972 he began to study conducting with Masamitsu Takahashi and from 1976 with Seiji Ozawa, Tadaaki Otaka and Professor Franco Ferrara. During this period, he conducted the orchestra and opera of the Tohogakuen College of Music, Tokyo Radio Chorus and NHK TV-Opera. From 1976 -1978 he held the position of Conductor of the Tokyo Academic Chorus and Jeunesses Musicales of Japan.
Having received 3rd prize at the Herbert von Karajan conducting competition Japan in 1977, Imamura came one year later to Europe, participating in the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic by Karajan foundation from 1978-81. In 1978 and 79, he also attended Masterclasses with Milan Horvat at the Salzburg Summer Academy, where he conducted the concluding concert in 1979. He recorded with the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1980 he was finalist at the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition in Milan and in 1983 he won first prize and special prize from the National Opera in Warsaw at the 2nd Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition for Conductors. Imamura was the Resident Conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic (1981-1983) and since 1984 he is guest conductor of polish numerous philharmonic orchestras in Warsaw, Łódź, Kraków, Katowice, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Białystok, Lublin, Wałbrzych and Jelenia Góra. He was the Resident Conductor of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (1989-90) , Principal Conductor of the Tokyo Harmonia Chamber Orchestra (1990-96), Nara Chamber Orchestra (1996-2010) and Music Director of the Filharmonia Tama -Tokyo (since 2004-). Imamura conducted all of the distinguished European and Japanese orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestra Filharmonico della Scala Milan, Orchestra della RAI Milan, Vienna Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, Salzburger Dom Mozarteum Orchestra, North German Philharmonic Rostock, Helsinki Philharmonic, Praha Virtuosi, Karlovy Vary Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Polish Radio Symphony in Katowice, Sinfonia Varsovia, Lithuanian National Symphony, NHK Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic and almost all japanese major orchestras.