The , also known as Tokyō (都響), is one of the representative

symphony orchestras An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The Orchestra was founded in 1965 by the

Tokyo Metropolitan Government The is the government of the Tokyo Metropolis. One of the 56 prefectures of Japan, the government consists of a popularly elected governor and assembly. The headquarters building is located in the ward of Shinjuku. The metropolitan government ...

, to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics (1964 Summer Olympics). Currently Kazushi Ono serves as Music Director, Alan Gilbert as Principal Guest Conductor, Kazuhiro Koizumi as Honorary Conductor for Life and Eliahu Inbal as Conductor Laureate. Their offices are based at the

Tokyo Bunka Kaikan The is a Japanese concert hall located in Ueno Park, Taitō, Tokyo. Designed by Japanese architect Kunio Maekawa, it was built in 1961 and renovated in 1998–99. Its larger hall seats 2303 people, and its small hall seats 649. It is operated ...

, a concert venue owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. They perform regularly at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan,

Suntory Hall The is a concert venue in the central Akasaka district of Tokyo, Japan. Part of the Ark Hills complex, it consists of a main concert hall, widely considered one of the finest in the world for its acoustics — indeed Herbert von Karajan called i ...

and

Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre 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 ...

. Traditionally, the Orchestra performs the works of

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

as an important part of their repertoire.

Hiroshi Wakasugi was a Japanese orchestra conductor. He premiered many of the major Western operas in Japan, and was honoured with many awards for cultural achievement. He was best known for conducting works by German composers such as Richard Wagner, Anton Br ...

Eliahu Inbal Eliahu Inbal (born 16 February 1936, Jerusalem) is an Israeli conductor. Inbal studied violin at the Israeli Academy of Music and took composition lessons with Paul Ben-Haim. Upon hearing him there, Leonard Bernstein endorsed a scholarship for ...

and

Gary Bertini Gary Bertini ( he, גארי ברתיני, May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors. In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music. Biography Gary Bertini was born ''Shloyme Golergant'' in ...

have performed all the symphonies of Mahler with the orchestra. The Orchestra has received much international acclaim through overseas performances in Europe, North America and Asia. In November 2015, They brought a tour in Europe under the baton of Kazushi Ono, which was highly acclaimed.

Conductors

Kazushi Ono Kazushi (written: 和志, 和司, 和士, 和史, 一志 or 一至) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese rugby sevens player *, Japanese writer *, Japanese footballer *, Jap ...

(2015–) Music Director *

Alan Gilbert (conductor) Alan Gilbert (born February 23, 1967) is an American conductor and violinist. He is principal conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and music director of Royal Swedish Opera. He was music director of the New York Philharmonic from 200 ...

(2018–) Principal Guest Conductor *

(2008–2014) Principal Conductor *

Jakub Hrůša Jakub Hrůša (born 23 July 1981 in Brno), is a Czech conductor. Education Hrůša is the son of the architect Petr Hrůša. Hrůša studied piano and trombone, and developed an interest in conducting, during his years at Gymnázium třída K ...

　(2010–2018) Principal Guest Conductor *

James DePreist James Anderson DePreist (November 21, 1936 – February 8, 2013) was an American conductor. DePreist was one of the first African-American conductors on the world stage. He was the director emeritus of conducting and orchestral studies at T ...

(2005–2008) Permanent Conductor *

(1998–2005) Music Director *

Kazuhiro Koizumi is a Japanese conductor who has had an active international career since the 1970s. Koizumi was one among the founding conductors of the New Japan Philharmonic established in July 197He has appeared as a guest conductor throughout Europe and the ...

(1995–1998) Principal Conductor *

(1986–1995) Music Director *

Jean Fournet Jean Fournet (14 April 1913 – 3 November 2008) was a French flautist and conductor. Fournet was born in Rouen in 1913. His father was a flutist who gave him some instruction on the flute and music theory. Fournet was then trained at the Con ...

(1983–1986) Permanent Guest-Conductor *

Moshe Atzmon Moshe Atzmon ( he, משה עצמון, born 30 July 1931) is an Israeli conductor. He was born Móse Grószberger in Budapest, and at the age of thirteen he emigrated with his family to Tel Aviv, Israel. He started his musical career on the hor ...

(1978–1983) Music Adviser & Principal Conductor *

Akeo Watanabe was a Japanese symphonic conductor, known for his recordings of the works of Jean Sibelius. Watanabe was born in 1919 to a Japanese father and Finnish mother. He studied violin and conducted at the Tokyo Music School and the Juilliard School o ...

(1972–1978) Music Director & Permanent Conductor *

Tadashi Mori was a Japanese conductor and flautist. Biography Tadashi Mori performed as flautist in his young days. He studied conducting from Hideo Saito, and started his career as conductor. He was a music director and principal conductor of the Tok ...

(1967–1972) Music Director & Permanent Conductor * Heinz Hofmann (1965–1967) Music Director & Permanent Conductor

Awards

* Kyoto Music Award (1991) * Japan's 50th Record Academy Award for Best Symphony Album (E.Inbal/ Shostakovich: Symphony No.4, 2012) * Japan's 53rd Record Academy Award for Special Award (E.Inbal+TMSO/ Neuer Mahler-Zyklus 2012–2013)

Note

* The Tokyo ''Metropolitan'' Symphony Orchestra (都響, Tokyō) tends to be confused with the

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra The or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra (東宝交響楽団). It assumed its present name in 1951. Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as pit orchestra for some productions at Ne ...

(東響, Tōkyō). * The orchestra had mainly performed only classical music but came to also perform other symphonic music since around 2000, such as ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...

'' soundtracks with

Koichi Sugiyama was a Japanese composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was best known for composing the music for the '' Dragon Quest'' franchise, along with several other video games, anime, film, and television shows. Classically trained, Sugiyama was ...

, and soundtracks for ''

Nodame Cantabile is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tomoko Ninomiya. It was serialized in Japan by Kodansha in the ''josei'' manga magazine ''Kiss'' from July 2001 to October 2009 and collected in 23 ''tankōbon'' volumes. A two-v ...

'' (anime and TV drama) and '' Red Cliff'' (film).

External links

* {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1965 Japanese orchestras Culture in Tokyo Government of Tokyo Musical groups from Tokyo 1965 establishments in Japan