Western Classical Music in Japan

The western classical music has a strong presence in Japan and the country is one of the most significant markets for this music tradition, with Takemitsu (popular as well for his avant-garde works and movie scoring) being the best known. Also popular is the conductor Seiji Ozawa, since 1999 the pianist Fujiko Hemming, who plays Liszt and Chopin, has been popular and her CDs have sold millions of copies. Japan is also home to the world’s leading wind ensemble, the Tokyo Kosei wind group, and the largest music contest of any type, the All-Japan band association national competition. The western classical music does not represent Japan’s original tradition. The Japanese were first exposed to it in the second half of the 19^th century, after more than 200 years of national isolation during the Edo era. But after that, Japanese studied the classical music earnestly to make it a part of their owned artistic tradition.

source of picture: welltempered.wordpress.com

Some of the orchestras in the western classical music include Yamagata Symphony orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic orchestra, Tokyo city philharmonic orchestra, Tokyo symphony orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony orchestra,  Kyushu Symphony orchestra, Kyoto symphony orchestra, Nagoya philharmonic orchestra, New Japan philharmonic, NHK Symphony orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic orchestra, Orchestra ensemble Kanazawa, Tokyo metropolitan symphony orchestra, Sapporo symphony orchestras, Japan philharmonic orchestra, Hyogo performing arts center orchestra, Hiroshima symphony orchestra, Kanagawa philharmonic orchestra, Gunma symphony orchestra and Hiroshima symphony orchestra.

Some of the composers include Hisato Ohzawa (1907–1953), Shiro Fukai (1907–1959), Hisatada Otaka (1911–1951), Akira Ifukube (1914–2006), Fumio Hayasaka (1914–1955), Sadao Bekku (1922–2012), Ikuma Dan (1924–2001), Yasushi Akutagawa (1925–1989), Roh Ogura (1926–1990), Joji Yuasa (born 1929), Toshiro Mayuzumi (1929–1997), Akio Yashiro (1929–1976), Teizo Matsumura (1929–2007), Toru Takemitsu (1930–1996), Hikaru Hayashi (1931–2012), Yuzo Toyama (born 1931), Akira Miyoshi (born 1933), Toshi Ichiyanagi (born 1933), Maki Ishii (1936–2003), Shigeaki Saegusa (born 1942), Shin-ichiro Ikebe (born 1943), Michio Kitazume (born 1948), Takashi Yoshimatsu (born 1953), Akira Nishimura (born 1953),Toshio Hosokawa (born 1955), Rentaro Taki (1879–1903), Kosaku Yamada (1886–1965), Yasuji Kiyose (1900–1981), Masao Ohki (1901–1971), Saburo Moroi (1903–1977), Kunihiko Hashimoto (1904–1949), Tomojiro Ikenouchi (1906–1991) and Yoritsune Matsudaira (1907–2001).