In 1973, in response to enthusiastic popular demand, a group of talented musicians was assembled to form the Miyagi Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), Sendai's long-awaited first public orchestra. Its first subscription concert took place the next year.
In June 1978, the orchestra went fully professional when the Miyagi Philharmonic Association reorganized as a public foundation. It made rapid progress when it welcomed the late Yasushi Akutagawa in April 1983 as a musical director. This transformation soon captured the attention of orchestras throughout Japan.
In April 1989 Sendai became a designated ordinance city, and the orchestra, adopting the name of its home, became the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO). Yuzo Toyama, internationally renowned composer and conductor, was inaugurated as musical director, a position that had been vacant since Mr. Akutagawa passed away.
In April 1992 the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation was established thanks to the generous contributions of the City of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, and the people of both Sendai and Miyagi Prefecture. Under the leadership of Maestro Toyama, the foundation achieved further development with a solid base of support drawn from public and private sources.
In 1999 the SPO put on its first performances in Sendai and Tokyo of Hasekura Tsunenaga's "Toi Ho (A Distant Sail)", Opera by Akira Miyoshi, earning rave reviews and numerous awards. By popular demand, the Orchestra repeated the performance in both cities in 2000.
The SPO's first overseas performance came in March 2000. The Orchestra toured Austria (Vienna, Linz, Ried, Villach), before traveling to Italy for an engagement in Rome. Each of the five performances earned lavish praise from critics and audiences alike.
In April 2000, Mr. Toshiaki UMEDA who had been serving as a conductor over the past decade became chief conductor.
On the occasion of its 68th subscription concert in May 1990, the orchestra began offering two-day performances in the Concert Hall of the Sendai City Youth Cultural Center, completed that year. In 1993 this schedule was increased to nine engagements, for a total of 18 evenings a year, and in March 2005 the SPO celebrated its 200th performance.
In addition to these subscription concerts, the SPO conducts special concerts and performances by special request including music appreciation classes for schoolchildren. Its total performances number over 120 a year and its ambitious schedule covers all of eastern Japan as well as the entire country.
The SPO also proudly serves as the host orchestra of the Sendai International Music Competition (SIMC) which has the unique aspect of focusing on concertos in the selection of its repertoire since the 1st competition in 2001. The orchestra was a significant factor in the resounding success of the 3rd SIMC held in May and June 2007.
In April 2006, aiming to create a new "Sendai Philharmonic Sound", SPO started its activities under a new lineup; Mr. Pascal VERROT as a chief conductor, Mr. Kazuhiro KOIZUMI as a principal guest conductor, and Mr. Kazufumi YAMASHITA as a conductor.
Their discography includes Debussy's "La Mer" conducted by Mr. Pascal VERROT, and Berlioz's "Harold en Italie" with Mr. Kazuhiro KOIZUMI as a conductor and Ms Naoko SHIMIZU as a guest Violist. It also includes the live CD of their subscription concert released by FONTEC containing R. Strauss's "Ein Heldenleben" with the concert master Mr. Masahide DENDA as a soloist and Mr. Kazufumi YAMASHITA as a conductor, and the "Best of Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra" CD which contains Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" as well as Tchaikovsky's violin concerto by the combination of Mr. YAMASHITA and Mr. DENDA. All were well-received.
The history of the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra dates back to 1971 when a preparatory orchestra was formed around Conductor Chiaki Murakawa, which in January 1972 became the very first professional orchestra in northeastern Japan. In August of the same year the Yamagata Symphony Association was formed to act as the managing organization for the orchestra, followed by the orchestra's very first regular subscription concert in September. In 1974 the Yamagata Symphony Association became a public corporation, and the orchestra's activities were expanded to include all six prefectures in northeastern Japan, and Niigata Prefecture as well.
In followings years the orchestra was the recipient of prestigious awards one after another including the Yamagata Prefecture Culture Meeting Award (Feb. 1978), the Saito Mokichi Culture Award (Nov. 1978), and the Kahoku Culture Award (Jan. 1979), as it established itself as a representative orchestra of northeastern Japan.
In January 1987 the orchestra held its first Tokyo performance at the Suntory Hall where it played to a full house and received great praise. The orchestra performed at the Suntory Hall again in 1988, 1990 and 1993. In 1995 the orchestra performed a special selection of music by Schubert for two consecutive days at the Hamarikyu Asahi Hall. In 1998 ,2001,2005 and 2008 ,the orchestra participated in the Festival of visiting Orchestras at the Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo, and performed a Sakuranbo Concert from 2003 until 2008 at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall.
In July 1991 the orchestra gave its very first performance overseas at the Colorado Music Festival held in Colorado, U.S.A. In February 1992 the orchestra held a Three Days of Mozart concert over three consecutive days to commemorate its 20th anniversary, and to commemorate its 30th anniversary in January 2002 it performed the music of Beethoven for two consecutive days.
In June 2001 the orchestra received the Suntory Regional Culture award in recognition of its continuous efforts to promote music education, such as having held special performances and classes at local schools for more than thirty years.
At the present time, lead by Music Director IIMORI Norichika, Honorary Founder Conductor MURAKAWA Chiaki, Honorary Conductor KUROIWA Hideom, Prinipal Guest Conductor BAN Tetsuro,and Conductor KUDO Toshiyuki ,the orchestra performs almost 150 times a year including regular subscription concerts, request concerts, school concerts, as well as television and radio performances.
