The Sapporo Symphony Orchestra (札幌交響楽団 ''Sapporo Kokyo Gakudan'') is a Japanese orchestra based in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

, Japan. Colloquially known as "Sakkyo", this is the only professional orchestra in

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

. The orchestra gives its concerts at the

Sapporo Concert Hall , is a municipal musical venue located in Nakajima Park, Sapporo, established in 1997, the building is owned by Sapporo City, known for having a huge organ built by Alfred Kern & Fils Manufacture D'Orgues in the main music hall. When Simon Ratt ...

. The orchestra was founded in 1961 as the Sapporo Citizen Symphony, with Masao Araya as its first principal conductor, and gave its first subscription concert that same year. The next year, the orchestra renamed itself the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. Araya served as principal conductor of the orchestra until 1968. In 1975, the orchestra toured to the USA and to West Germany. In 2007, the orchestra celebrated its 500th subscription concert. In October 2009, the orchestra was re-organised itself as a public interest incorporated foundation. The orchestra toured Europe for its 50th anniversary celebrations.

Tadaaki Otaka is a Japanese conductor. Biography Otaka studied composition, theory, and French horn, at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. He was subsequently a conducting student of Hideo Saito. Otaka has served as conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orch ...

was chief conductor of the orchestra from 1981 to 1986, then music advisor and principal conductor from 1998 to 2004, and then music director from 2005 to 2015. Otaka now has the title of honorary music director of the orchestra.

Radomil Eliška Radomil Eliška (6 April 1931, Podbořany – 1 September 2019, Prague)Junichi Hirokami is a Japanese conductor. Born in Tokyo, Hirokami studied conducting, piano, musicology, and viola at the Tokyo College of Music. He won the first Kondrashin International Conducting Competition in Amsterdam in September 1984 at age 26. One of ...

, since April 2017. Other former chief conductors have included Max Pommer (2015–2018). The orchestra's current chief conductor is

Matthias Bamert Matthias Bamert (born July 5, 1942 in Ersigen, Canton of Bern) is a Swiss composer and conductor. In addition to studies in Switzerland, Bamert studied music in Darmstadt and in Paris, with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, and their influ ...

, as of the 2018–2019 season. His initial contract is for three years.

Conductors

* Masao Araya (Principal Conductor, 1961–1968) * Peter Schwarz (Principal Conductor, 1967–1975) *

Hiroyuki Iwaki (6 September 193213 June 2006) was a Japanese conductor and percussionist. Biography Iwaki was born in Tokyo in 1932. Shortly after he entered an elementary school, he moved to Kyoto due to his father's transferral. He came to play the xyloph ...

(Principal Conductor, then Music Director, 1975–1987; Conductor Laureate, 1988–2006) *

Kazuyoshi Akiyama is a Japanese conductor. Biography Born into a musical family, he studied piano at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, but was fascinated by the conducting activities of a fellow student, Seiji Ozawa. He decided to study conducting with Hideo S ...

(Music Advisor, later Principal Conductor; 1988–1998) *

(Chief Conductor, 1981–1986; Music Advisor and Principal Conductor, 1998–2004; Music Director, 2005–2015; Honorary Music Director, 2015–present) * Max Pommer (Chief Conductor, 2015–2018) *

(Chief Conductor, 2018–present)

References

External links

Official website of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra
{{Authority control Japanese orchestras Musical groups established in 1961 Organizations based in Sapporo Musical groups from Hokkaido 1961 establishments in Japan