公益財団法人　九州交響楽団　The Kyushu Symphony Orchestra

The Kyushu Symphony Orchestra (KSO) founded in 1953 in FUKUOKA. In addition to subscription concerts and Orchestra Masterpiece in the Afternoon (at ACROS Fukuoka Symphony Hall) and Classics at Tenjin (at FFG Hall), KSO also performs more than 130 times a year including school concerts and other variety concerts.
The first Chief Principal Conductor, ISHIMARU Hiroshi (present Permanent Honorary Music Director), MORI Tadashi, YASUNAGA Takeichiro (present Permanent Honorary Conductor), Folker RENICKE, KUROIWA Hideomi, KOIZUMI Kazuhiro, YAMASHITA Kazufumi, OHYAMA Heiichiro and AKIYAMA Kazuyoshi took active roles with KSO. KOBAYASHI Ken-ichiro became Principal Guest Conductor in 1996. Since April 2013, KOIZUMI Kazuhiro has been Music Director. And he will become Lifetime Honorary Music Director in 2024. In April 2024 OHTA Gen will become Principal Conductor and SHINOZAKI Maro Fuminori will become Music Adviser.
As for CDs KSO has released including the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with SONODA Takahiro conducted by OHYAMA Heiichiro. Since 2006 KSO released 9 CDs named ”KYUKYO SERIES”. With KOIZUMI Kazuhiro Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (2013, fontec), Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (2015, fontec), Mahler 8th Symphony (2019, fontec)，Mahler 3rd Symphony (2020，fontec) , Mahler 2nd Symphony (2023，fontec)which were highly acclaimed and chosen as Recommended CDs by music magazines and newspaper.
The KSO was awarded Fukuoka City Culture Award, Western Japan Culture Award, Minister of Education Regional Culture Award, and Fukuoka Prefecture Culture Award.
The sound source of The Kyushu Symphony Orchestra plays “Nami no Bon"(composed by TAKEMITSU Toru) which performed at the 344th Subscription Concert was used for the attraction music of the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games held on August 8, 2021.

Gen Ohta was born in Sapporo, Japan in 1994. He studied conducting at the School of Music at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He graduated from this prestigious musical institution of Japan with honors. He completed his study in the Master’s Program for Conducting at the university’s Graduate School of Music. In the 17th Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducing in 2015, he finished in second place and won the Audience Award.
Gen Ohta has studied conducting with Tadaaki Otka and Ken Takaseki, and composition with Junichi Nihashi. He will assume the post of Principal Conductor with Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in April 2024.

At the age of three, Fuminori Maro Shinozaki began learning the violin with his father, Eisuke Shinozaki. In 1981 he entered the Vienna City Conservatory and studied with prof. Thomas Christian. In the following year he made a concerto debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus.
In 1997 Shinozaki was appointed as the concertmaster of NHK Symphony Orchestra with whom he is currently working as the special concertmaster. He has served as the concertmaster also of Gunma Symphony Orchestra and Yomiuri-Nippon Symphony Orchestra.
Shinozaki has received numerous awards including Civic Cultural Prize from Kitakyushu-City in 1979, Culture Prize from Fukuoka-Prefecture in 2001, and was appointed as the ambassador of culture to Kitakyushu in 2008.
As a councilor of the WHO International Academy “Life Harmony Science", Shinozaki is also involved with activities in the field of music therapy.
Shinozaki teaches young musicians at Toho Gakuen College and Showa University of Music.

In 1969, Kazuhiro Koizumi entered Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied conducting with Kazuo Yamada. After being awarded first prize in the second Min-On Concert Association of Japan Conducting Competition in 1970, he went on to become Assistant Conductor at the former Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and was one of the conductors of the New Japan Philharmonic upon its founding in July 1972. Later in October of the same year, he began studying opera conducting at the Berlin Hochschule with professor Hans Martin Rabenstein.

He continued his studies in the summer of 1973 with his participation in the Tanglewood Music Festival .
In November 1973, he was awarded First Prize at the 3rd Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition, and then debuted in Berlin as a conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic.
He served as Music Director of the New Japan Philharmonic from 1975 to 1979. After a highly successful appearance with the Berlin Philharmonic at its subscription concerts in March 1975, he continued conducting around Europe to great acclaim in places like Vienna, Paris, Italy and the former West Germany.

In January 1976, he appeared with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, performing with the legendary Anton Rubinstein and Mstislav Rostropovich, and he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival later the same year. His vast conducting credits throughout Europe include the Munchner Philharmoniker, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the Philharmonia Hungarica. In the US, his triumphant performance with Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in 1978 led him to an engagement leading the group in an acclaimed subscription concert in March 1980, two years later. He has guest conducted numerous orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

He was Music Director of Canada's Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from the 1983/84 through 1988/89 seasons, and he conducted the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra from 1986 to 1989. Since 1988, he has been invited to conduct regularly by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and they have also completed recording Tchaikovsky's Symphonies No. 4, 5, and 6 together.

Koizumi has served as the Principal Conductor of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra from April 1989 to March 1996, the Guest Principal Conductor of the Century Orchestra Osaka from April 1992 to March 1995, the Principal Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from April 1995 to March 1998 and the Principal Conductor of the Century Orchestra Osaka from April 2003 to March 2008. Since April 2006 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, and since April 2008 both the Music Director of the Century Orchestra Osaka (current Japan Century Symphony Orchestra), and a Resident Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He will become Music Director at Kyushu Symphony Orchestra from April 2013 too.

Born in 1941, Kazuyoshi Akiyama received his musical training at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, where, influenced by the activities of one student, Seiji Ozawa, he transferred from the piano department to study conducting under Hideo Saito.

In February 1964, a year after graduating, Akiyama made his debut engagement with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. The tremendous success of this collaboration led to his nomination for the dual posts of Music Director and Permanent Conductor just two months later.

Overseas, his conducting successes began with U.S. and European tours of the Toho Gakuen School of Music Orchestra. He quickly went on to conduct various orchestras in Canada and the U.S., the success of these partnerships leading to Akiyama being invited to hold professional posts as Assistant Conductor of the Toronto Symphony (1968-1969), Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra (1973-1978), and Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (1972-1985). Upon leaving his post there and from 1985 to 1993, Akiyama held the post of Music Director to the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. He has been engaged as Conductor Laureate of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

During this time, Akiyama's reputation spread to Europe and through the U.S., where he has been invited to conduct orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, Cologne Radio Symphony, the Bayerischer Rundfunk, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland and the Philadelphia Orchestras.

Akiyama currently holds the position of Conductor Laureate at Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, and he also serves as Music Director / Principal Permanent Conductor of Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director/Principal Conductor of Chubu Philharmonic Orchestra.

Akiyama is the recipient of numerous situations, including the 6th Suntory Music Award (1975), Arts Encouragement Prize of the Minister of Education (1995), and along with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Kyoto Music Award (1993), Mainichi Arts Award (1994), and the Mobile Music Award (1996), and the 29th Suntory Music Award (1997). Akiyama was awarded Japan's Medal with Purple Ribbon (2001) and The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette (2011) by the Japanese government, the high prestigious honors in Japan, for his outstanding achievements in the music society in Japan.

Ken-ichiro Kobayashi is one of Japan's most well known conductors. Currently, he regularly conducts concerts by the Arnhem Philharmonic and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras. Among the many other orchestras he has appeared with are the Slovak Philharmonic, Budapest Philharmonic, Amsterdam Philharmonic, Neterland Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony Orchestras. He has also conducted the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestras on their European tours.

Kobayashi has released numerous recordings from Canyon Classics and Octavia Records. He is currently recording the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and has previously released a CD of the 3rd Symphony, 2nd and 5th Symphonies, 1st and 7th Symphonies.

Kobayashi received a commission to compose a work in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Holland and Japan in 2000. It was first performed in Amsterdam with the Netherlands Philharmonic in the fall of 1999, to a sold-out hall, and received a standing ovation. In May 2002, he conducted the very successful opening concert of the Prague Spring Festival, the complete "Ma Vlast" (My Homeland).

Ken-ichiro Kobayashi studied composition and conducting at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. In 1974, he received both the first prize and the special award at the first International Conductors' Competition of Hungarian Television in Budapest. He received the Liszt Memorial Decoration in 1986, and in 1994 he received the Hungarian Order of Culture and the "Middle Cross with the Star" decoration from the Hungarian government.

He is also a emeritus professor at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts, Tokyo College of Music and Franz Liszt Academy of Music.

While studying at Toho Gakuen School of Music, Toyoshima began performing as a soloist on both the violin and viola, as well as performing chamber music and as a concertmaster.
In 1986 he was appointed principal concertmaster for the New Japan Philharmonic immediately after graduation from the school. He also served as the concertmaster for the Saito Kinen Orchestra and earned the unwavering trust of many conductors and orchestras.
He made his recital debut as a soloist at Suntory Hall in 1988, and after that has performed together with the many Japanese and international orchestras including the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bashmet & the Moscow Soloists, the London Mozart Orchestra.
As a chamber performer, he brought together the Halley String Quartet, and until 2000 was also a member of the resident quartet of the Casals Hall. At present he is a member of Alti String Quartet. Also, he worked with some of the world's top artists including Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Martha Argerich, Pichas Zukerman, Mischa Maisky and Richard Stoltzman.
From 1997 he has served as solo concertmaster at both the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and the New Japan Philharmonic. Currently, he serves as concertmaster of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, solo concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic, and concertmaster laureate of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra. Toyoshima made a conducting debut in 2004 and is developing his activities more actively.
His recent CD "Tenderly" was released through Octavia Record in June 2007. He has released many CDs of chamber music in Japan and overseas and has received great reviews.
Toyoshima was the recipient of the Muramatsu Prize and the first Idemitsu Prize in 1991 and the Cultural and Education Ministry's New Artist of the Year Award in 1992. He plays a 1719 Antonio Stradivarius.

Yasutomo Ougitani started studying music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 1998 and completed his studies in 2000 after studying at Toho Gakuen Music High School (co-educational) and in the Music Department of Toho Gakuen College.
While at Toho Gakuen College, he won ain prize in the 62nd Music Competition of Japan.
Mr. Ougitani served as concertmaster for the Royal Chamber Orchestra, where he was also a soloist.
During his time in Brussels, he established a chamber orchestra at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and led successful concert tours in Germany in 2000 and in Japan in 2002 as concertmaster.
In the field of chamber music, he formed the Crystal Quartet. As a violist, he won the Paper de M?sica international competition in Spain in 2001, and has performed in Belgium, Spain, and elsewhere.
Mr. Ougitani returned to Japan in 2002, and assumed the post of concertmaster for the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in July 2004.
Since April 2006, he has also been serving as solo concertmaster for the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, making him solo concertmaster for both orchestras.
Aside from that, he performs in the Miyazaki Music Festivals and others.
Mr. Ougitani has studied under Hidetaka Murayama, Masami Tomioka, Yukari Fukushima, Tsugio Tokunaga, and Igor Oistrakh.

Yukihiro Nishimoto was born in Sapporo, Japan. He started learning violin at age of six.
After graduating the National Tokyo University of Fine arts and Music (GEIDAI), he went abroad to studying music and performing at the Royal Northern College of Music (United Kingdom) and got the post graduate diploma with the Distinction and several prizes and awards such as John Barbirolli Prize. While staying at UK, he has had numerous experiences as a soloist, a member of NISHIMOTO TRIO and Isolani String Quartet. He has taken part in many music festivals such as Salzburg music festival and performed at the wigmore hall (UK) and on TV program of national broad casting as ABC (Australia) and BBC (UK).
In 2010, returned to Japan. Immediately, Yukihiro Nishimoto has started his own art project 〔VIOLINable〕 and outreach activities at institutions, and formed classical cross over group ＜Rain Cats & Dogs＞. Also, he has been invited numerous orchestra as guest concertmaster and soloist. Since 2014, He has started his own recital tour series, for 10years, around home towns (Sendai, Sapporo and Gotemba), including reconstruction workshop (for the great east japan earthquake, 2011) for children. Yukihiro Nishimoto is currently concertmaster for both the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra (since 2018) and the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2012), a member of committee for the Sendai International Music Competition, special adviser of Mt. FUJI Symphony Orchestra (specified non-profit corporation) and director of Fumoto Junior Orchestra. He is also regularly radio personality for music programs of Sendai FM and TBC.
Yukihiro Nishimoto studied under Setsuko Ueki, Ryouko Yamazaki, Kazuhiko Kitamoto, Yasuko Ohtani, Chikashi Tanaka, Kazuki Sawa and Yair Kless.

Official Blogs　: 『VIOLINable!!』(http://ameblo.jp/stefanoconia/)
Official Facebook page：https://www.facebook.com/VIOLINable/
Official Twitter : @yukihironishimo

Masamichi Hara was born in Nagano Prefecture. He started learning violin at the age of four.
After graduating from the Kunitachi College of Music, he joined the New Japan Philharmonic.
He gave his first recitals in 1986 in the cities of Kokubunji and Kunitachi in Tokyo.
While serving as first violin for the New Japan Philharmonic, he played in quartets and other ensembles in a number of chamber music concerts.
Mr. Hara has been invited to be guest concertmaster numerous times for other professional orchestras and chamber music concerts.
He instructs amateur orchestras at Nihon University, St. Paul's University, and elsewhere.
Mr. Hara studied violin under Akiko Suwa and Tsugio Tokunaga, and chamber music under Helmut Barth and David Taylor.
He is also involved in many activities besides classical music. He has recorded CDs and participated in live performances with many different artists in popular music and other genres, and done studio work for TV shows, movies, and commercials. He is a member of the Tokyo Pops Orchestra, led by Katsuhisa Hattori.
He is currently an associate concertmaster for the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra.

◎ = Principal