■ Establishment
September 1985

■ Mission

1. Award and support young promising musicians

2. Organize and sponsor music festival

3. Organize and sponsor concerts and lectures regarding music

4. Hold cultural exchange with other countries

5. Undertake other projects necessary to achieve the purpose of the Foundation

Tokyo Summer Festival

An annual music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

 is organized in cooperation with Asahi Shimbun

Asahi Shimbun

The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...

, the leading quality newspaper company in Japan. Thought up in 1985 by Kyoko Edo

Kyoko Edo

Kyoko Edo is a pianist, artistic director, and president of the Arion-Edo Foundation.After graduating from the Conservatoire N.S.M.P., she performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, the Radio France Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, etc. and so on as soloist.She founded the...

 (pianist), Maki Ishii

Maki Ishii

was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music, and brother of composer Kan Ishii.-Biography:Born in Tokyo, Ishii studied composition privately and conducting with Watanabe from 1952 to 1958 in Tokyo, then moved to Berlin, where he continued his studies under Boris Blacher and Josef Rufer...

 (composer) and Tashi Funayama (musicologist), they joined hands to plan a truly international music festival in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 at a time when there was no such event in Japan. This epoch-making festival is the first in Japan planned and directed by professional musicians. It takes place about three to four weeks during the month of July and presents performances of various arts. Many outstanding artists from abroad perform under a single theme which is different from year to year.

Arion Afternoon Concert

Arion Afternoon Concert series was started in 1985 as a forerunner of weekday afternoon concert programs. This program is specifically tailored to music lovers for whom it is inconvenient to be out at night and for the convenience of those coming to enjoy the concerts from far away. The program varies from recitals over chamber music, baroque or contemporary concerts, instrumentalists and vocalists, all on a very high qualitative level.

Arion Award

The purpose of this award is to recognize and promote the activities of young musicians. The recipients of the award's prize money are newcomers to the field (performers, composers, or academics; individuals or groups) whose activity demonstrates great promise for the future. Furthermore, in some cases, their artistic endeavors are supported in the long term by providing opportunities to perform or by providing some degree of financial assistance for tutelage abroad.

Minao Shibata Award for musical criticism

With the aim of encouraging outstanding music critics, Minao Shibata Award for musical criticism was established in 1996 to recognize the achievements of the late music critic Minao Shibata, who had served on the judging committee for Arion Award. The award is held bi-yearly, by general invitation to music critics. The subject of judging is thesis on the music arts, or thesis on musical composition or performance.

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