Institution

Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras

The objectives of the Association are to encourage cooperation among Japanese professional orchestras, to conduct researches and studies on orchestra management, to provide training for those who are associated with orchestral music, and to promote and popularize the orchestral music through international exchange in order to contribute to the development of Japanese musical culture. We now have 38 professional orchestras that give more than 4,000 performances annually. In November 1997, the Association hosted “Orchestra Summit in Japan”, the first-ever international conference for orchestra administrators in Asia. It further arranged seminars on arts management and a series of workshops searching for new music education possibilities. The Association was assigned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs to produce “Asia Orchestra Week”, inviting orchestras from the Asia-Pacific region. It articulates the importance of classical music in modern society and actively continues to work for its development and expansion.

Speaker

Hideki NISHIHAMA, Managing Director

Born in 1971, Hideki NISHIHAMA graduated from the School of Sociology at Kansei Gakuin University. He later joined the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (KPO), after, as a consequence, he made remarks at a symposium held in 1992 to appeal for the survival of the orchestra. NISHIHAMA had served as its Director and Secretary General from 2003 through 2011, to devote himself to incorporate the KPO and bring its account balance into surplus. In May 2015, he became the Managing Director and Secretary General of the Yamagata Symphony Association, and since June 2018 he has also served as a Managing Director of the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras.