Yamagata Symphony Orchestra

The Yamagata Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1972 as the very first professional orchestra in northeastern Japan. Led by Principal Conductor BAN Tetsuro, Principal Guest Conductor SUZUKI Hidemi, Music Partner Radek Baborák, Founding Honorary Conductor MURAKAWA Chiaki, Conductor Laureate IIMORI Norichika, and Honorary Conductor KUROIWA Hideomi, YSO performs almost 150 times a year including regular subscription concerts, school concerts, and various other concerts. Performing with natural brass instruments for classical period works is one of YSO’s special characteristics.

Since the orchestra held its first Tokyo performance at Suntory Hall in 1987, YSO has regularly performed in Tokyo – “Sakuranbo (Cherry) Concert” at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall every June since 2003, and also in Osaka since 2012 when its activities were expanded to the Kansai area. In July 1991 YSO made its first overseas debut to participate in the Colorado Music Festival in Colorado, U.S.A.

The projects with maestro Iimori made “Iimori & YSO”’s name widely known to the whole country and led to the release of the Japanese orchestra’s first original CD label “YSO live” in 2006. YSO also performed and recorded all of Mozart’s symphonies at the subscription concert series called “Voyage to Amadeus” for 8 and a half years from 2007 to 2015 and released the CD “Mozart: The Complete Symphonies” in 2017. YSO performed in the film “Okuribito (Departures)” which won an Academy Award in 2008.

In 2019, BAN Tetsuro, who has ties to Yamagata, became the Principal Conductor. From June 2020, YSO launched the concert series of “Beethoven’s complete Symphonies” with BAN. Through the production of complete DVDs and video distribution, YSO’s new era was showcased. In 2022, YSO celebrated its 50th anniversary. In the same year, YSO initiated “Concert-style Opera Series”. Opera performances with BAN have fostered a high level of artistry and individuality, consistently drawing significant attention. From December 2023, video distribution began on “U-NEXT”.

Official Website: https://www.yamakyo.or.jp/en/

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