History of the NSO

The New Symphony Orchestra (hereinafter called "NSO") is a self-managed amateur orchestra established in 1956. The NSO has been engaged in many highly motivated activities, such as concert tour in former Soviet Union (from September to October 1967), all-Stravinsky program: Firebird, Petrushka and The rite of spring (June 1st, 1975), concert series of Japanese orchestral works from 1933 to 1943 (from September to October 1976)*1 , the first performance of Shostakovich’s fourth symphony in Japan (July 20th, 1986) under the leadership of the late musical director Yasushi Akutagawa, well-known as representative composer and conductor of Japan.

Furthermore, the NSO is increasing the range of activities, such as Mahler Zyklus (conductor: late Kazuo Yamada, from 1979 to 1988), the performance of Japanese orchestral works during the Berliner Festwochen 1993 (current the Musikfest Berlin), the orchestra concert of the first act of Wagner's "Walkure" (conductor; Taijiro Iimori 1996), the concert for the 88th birth anniversary of Akira Ihukube (conductor; Masaki Ishii 2002), the performance of the "Miraculous Mandarin"(revival version) of Bartok Bela (conductor; Ken Takasaki 2003), the first performance of Ishii's posthumous works "Apparition and Death" (full version, conductor; Ken Takaseki 2004).

In recent years, the NSO has performed with foreign conductor Victor Tiets (chief conductor of the Far East Symphonic Orchestra in Khabarovsk) and many foreign world-class players, such as Vladimir Ovchinnikov (piano) and Anastasia Chebotareva (violin).*2


*1 Winner of the Torii Music Award 1976 (current the Suntory Music Award)
*2 Prize winners of the International Tchaikovsky Competition (both players)