TOKYO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

About TSO

Tokyo Symphony Chorus

Tokyo Symphony Chorus

Founded on 11 September 1987 as an amateur mixed chorus exclusively for the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Its aim is ‘to perform as one with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and to offer concerts of orchestral music with chorus of higher quality’. The choir is led by a choral conductor, a vocal coach, an accompanying pianist and a language coach who are familiar with the background of the music they perform and the language used in the lyrics, and they constantly improve the quality of their performances by holding auditions to select the performers for each performance. The orchestra has earned the trust of successive music directors Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Hubert Soudant and Jonathan Nott. In 2020, the choir became the first amateur choir to win the Music Pen Club Prize for Chamber Music and Choir.

Features of TSC

In addition to entrance examinations, auditions are held to select the performers for each performance. Appoints a suitable leader for each piece performed. No group fees, entrance fees or ticket quotas. Most pieces are performed from memory.

Conductors and choral conductors who gave guidance (in Japanese order)

ANDO Joko, UNO Tetsuya、ONUKI Hiroshi、OTANI Kenji、KAWAHARA Tetsuya、GUNJI Hiroshi、SANO Shoichi、TAKEDA Masao、TANAKA Nobuaki、TSUJI Hirohisa、TSUJI Hiroyuki、TSUNODA Kosuke、TOKITO Yasufumi、TOMIHIRA Kyohei、HIMOTO Hidekazu、FUKUSHIMA Akiyasu、HORI Shunsuke、MATSUBARA Chifuru、MISAWA Hirofumi、YAMAGAMI Takeshi

Past Performance Tracks

  • Beethoven: Symphony no.9

    Performs annually. In September 2001, she performed in Istanbul with the National Istanbul Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and students from the Turkish Music University in a concert celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In May 2017 and 2023 she will perform at the La Folle Journée Festival. In 2020, we performed a two-piano version of Liszt’s arrangement for the ‘Yell for Art! Tokyo project.

  • Requiem

    Mozart, Berlioz, Brahms, Verdi, Fauré, Britten, Duruflé, Lloyd-Webber, Saegusa, Ligeti

  • UK

    Tallis: Spem in Alium
    Handel: Messiah
    Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance, The Kingdom, The Apostles, The Dream of Gerontius, The Light of Life (Japan premiere)
    Vaughan-Williams: Symphony No. 7 ‘Sinfonia antartica’, A Sea Symphony, Dona nobis pacem
    Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast
    Holst: The Planets (including the Japanese premiere of Pluto by Colin Matthews)
    Macmillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross

  • German and Austrian

    J.S. Bach: Mass in B minor, Matthew Passion
    Haydn: The Seasons
    Mozart: Mass in C minor, Coronation Mass, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, 3 choruses and 5 interludes for ‘Thamos, King of Egypt’
    Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage
    Schubert: Rosamunde
    Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, Song of Destiny, Dirge
    Liszt: Faust Symphony
    Wagner: Tannhäuser, from Meistersinger
    Bruckner: Te Deum
    J. Strauss II: The Beautiful Blue Danube
    Orff: Carmina Burana
    Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hymn
    Mahler: Song of Lamentation, Symphony No.2, Symphony No.3, Symphony No.8
    Schoenberg: Mose and Aron, Peace on Earth, Jacob’s Ladder, Gurre-Lieder, A Survivor from Warsaw
    Webern: Cantata No. 2

  • French and Italian

    Rossini: The Barber of Seville, four Verdi from Bruson
    Verdi: opera chorus, triumphant chorus from Aida
    Puccini: Turandot (incl. Berio’s adaptation)
    Berlioz: The Eternal Punishment of Faust
    Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe
    Poulenc: Gloria
    Follet: Pavane
    Bizet: Carmen
    Connesson: Heiterkeit (Japan premiere)

  • Russian

    Borodin: Dances of the Danes
    Mussorgsky: Night on the Bald Mountain
    Tchaikovsky: Overture 1812
    Shostakovich: Song of the Forests, Symphony No. 13 ‘Babi Yar’
    Stravinsky: The Wedding, Canticum sacrum, Symphony of Psalms
    Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky

    Gubaidulina: The Canticle of the Sun of St Francis of Assisi

  • Finnish

    Sibelius: The Tempest, Finlandia, Kullervo

  • Czech

    Janacek: The Makropulos Affair, The Cunning Little Vixen, Katya Kabanova , From the House of the Dead, The Excursions of Mr. Broucek, Glagolitic Mass

  • America

    Ives: Symphony No. 4
    John Adams: A Flowering Tree

  • Japan

    Nobutoki: Cantata “Kaido Tose”
    Ifukube: Symphonic Ode “Gotama the Buddha”
    Mamiya: 12 Inventions
    Hayashi: Collection of Japanese lyric songs
    Kozu: hymn
    Genda arr: ‘The Four Seasons of Furusato’.
    Senju: ManyoShu
    Hattori: Karei Naru Ichizoku

  • Other

    Bakalov: Misa Tango
    Kancheli: STYX
    Szymanowski: Stabat Mater
    Momoiro Clover Z: Spring Issue 2014
    Music4Gamer #2 ‘Shadow of the Colossus’
    Music4Gamer #3 from ‘Bungo and Alchemist’
    Music 4 Gamer #5 Shimomura Yoko 30th Anniversary
    From the game ‘Dolls’ Frontline’

Sister Chorus

Sister Chorus

Niigata Tokyo Symphony Chorus

An amateur mixed chorus formed at the opening of Ryutopia in 1998 for the purpose of performing orchestral works with chorus at the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra’s Niigata Subscription Concert. The choir members are auditioned when they join the group and before the performance, and perform at the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra’s Niigata Subscription Concert every year, and have a high level of performance ability. To date, the choir has performed in more than 25 Niigata Subscription Concerts.