(6 September 193213 June 2006) was a Japanese conductor and

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Biography

Iwaki was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

in 1932. Shortly after he entered an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, he moved to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

due to his father's transferral. He came to play the

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...

at nine years old. He moved back to Tokyo when he advanced to the fifth grade. In May 1945, suffering from an air raid, he evacuated to

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もて� ...

, where his relatives lived. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he moved to mountainous area of

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku p ...

for his father's work. In 1947, he was admitted to Gakushuin Boy's Junior High School, graduating in 1951. He had applied for admission to the Department of German Literature of

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

, but he gave up on account of a high fever he ran on the eve of the examination. Eventually he went to the Percussion Department, Faculty of Music,

Tokyo University of the Arts or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

. However, he dropped out later. In that era, discrimination existed depending on one's specialty within the faculty, and above all, the Percussion Department was ranked among the lowest group in the faculty. He made his conducting debut with the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra began as the ''New Symphony Orchestra'' on ...

in 1956, and was later honored as permanent conductor of that orchestra. In 1977, he became the first Japanese to conduct the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

, as a substitute for

Bernard Haitink Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lon ...

, who had taken ill. He first conducted the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

(MSO) on a 1973 Australian tour, and was chief conductor of the MSO for a record term of 23 years (1974–97), during which time he took the orchestra on two tours of Japan. In 1990 he was appointed the orchestra's conductor laureate, while remaining chief conductor until his retirement in 1997. He remained the conductor laureate after retirement. He made efforts to found the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and was appointed as the first music director, where he established the composer-in-residence system and tried hard to perform their commissioned works first in the world. He conducted all the

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

in one concert at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, from the afternoon of 31 December 2004 to the morning of 1 January 2005. In the following year, he performed the same program again from memory at

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space is a centre for the performing arts located in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. It opened in 1990 and is operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. There is a concert hall with 1999 seats and a playhouse with 834 seats as ...

on 31 December 2005. On 13 June 2006, he died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

in Tokyo, Japan.

Honours

*For his contribution to Australian musical life, he was appointed an honorary Member (AM) of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

in 1985, which was later upgraded to honorary Officer status (AO). *

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has ...

awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1986, and in 1991 appointed him their first Fellow of the Faculty of Arts. *Recipient of the 19th Suntory Music Award (1987) *In 1990 he was made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. *In 1995 the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

named its Southbank studio in Melbourne the Iwaki Auditorium. *Japan awarded him the Medal of Honour with Purple Ribbon in 1996.

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, ''Violin Concertos'' (with

& Dene Olding) ,

Best Classical Album The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by m ...

, , ARIA Award previous winners. , -

References

''USA Today'', "Japanese conductor Hiroyuki Iwaki dies at 73", 13 June 2006
*

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwaki, Hiroyuki 1932 births 2006 deaths 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Japanese musicians Classical percussionists Honorary Officers of the Order of Australia Japanese conductors (music) Japanese male conductors (music) Japanese percussionists Tokyo University of the Arts alumni 20th-century Japanese male musicians