Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The is a professional concert band
that has long been regarded as one of the world's finest, perhaps rivaled only in recent years by the Dallas Wind Symphony
(USA).
TKWO was established in 1960 by the lay Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei Kai
at its headquarters in central Tokyo. TKWO Is highly active, both within Japan and abroad, as a professional touring and recording ensemble. Its members include some of the finest woodwind, brass, and percussion players in Japan.
From 1984 to 1996 the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra was directed by renowned American maestro Frederick Fennell
, and since 2000 it has been directed by British conductor Douglas Bostock. TKWO has released more professional recordings than any other wind orchestra in the world, numbering in the hundreds of album titles. It has also played an active role in the commissioning of original works for wind band by both Japanese and foreign composers. Japanese composers whose works have been championed by TKWO include Yasuhide Ito
, Hiroshi Hoshina, Tetsunosuke Kushida, Akira Miyoshi
, Michio Mamiya, Bin Kaneda, Masamichi Amano
, Toshiro Mayuzumi
, Toshio Mashima, Isao Matsushita, and many others. Guest conductors of TKWO have included Alfred Reed
, Arnald Gabriel, Robert Jager, Ray Cramer, and Craig Kirchoff, to name but a few.
The Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra often performs in Fumon Hall, an enormous auditorium located on the campus of the Rissho Kosei Kai
religious organization in central Tokyo. Fumon Hall also regularly hosts the final level of the All-Japan Band Association
national band competition. With nearly 14,000 participating bands (and around 500,000 contestants nationwide) the AJBA band contest is currently the world's largest music competition. TKWO is usually hired to make the definitive premier recordings of the required pieces commissioned each year for the enormous competition. TKWO is largely credited with defining the wind band idiom in Japan, where it is enthusiastically supported among school and community ensembles.
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
that has long been regarded as one of the world's finest, perhaps rivaled only in recent years by the Dallas Wind Symphony
Dallas Wind Symphony
The Dallas Wind Symphony is a professional concert band based in Dallas, Texas .The DWS was founded in 1985 by Kim Campbell and Southern Methodist University music professor Howard Dunn...
(USA).
TKWO was established in 1960 by the lay Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei Kai
Rissho Kosei Kai
is a Japanese Buddhist lay movement founded in 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma.-History:Rissho Kosei-kai was founded on March 5, 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma, both former members of the Buddhist sect Reiyūkai. Rev. Niwano met Ms. Naganuma while he was engaged in missionary work...
at its headquarters in central Tokyo. TKWO Is highly active, both within Japan and abroad, as a professional touring and recording ensemble. Its members include some of the finest woodwind, brass, and percussion players in Japan.
From 1984 to 1996 the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra was directed by renowned American maestro Frederick Fennell
Frederick Fennell
Frederick Fennell was an internationally recognized conductor, and one of the primary figures in promoting the wind ensemble as a performing group. He was also influential as a band pedagogue, and greatly affected the field of music education in the USA and abroad...
, and since 2000 it has been directed by British conductor Douglas Bostock. TKWO has released more professional recordings than any other wind orchestra in the world, numbering in the hundreds of album titles. It has also played an active role in the commissioning of original works for wind band by both Japanese and foreign composers. Japanese composers whose works have been championed by TKWO include Yasuhide Ito
Yasuhide Ito
is a contemporary Japanese composer.- Early life :As a child, Ito began to cultivate his interest in music by taking piano lessons. He continued to pursue a musical education and, by his third year of high school, had composed his first piece of music for band, titled “On the March”...
, Hiroshi Hoshina, Tetsunosuke Kushida, Akira Miyoshi
Akira Miyoshi
Akira Miyoshi is a Japanese composer.Miyoshi was a child prodigy on piano, studying with Kozaburo Hirai and Tomojiro Ikenouchi. He studied French literature at the University of Tokyo, and then at the Paris Conservatory with Henri Challan and Raymond Gallois-Montbrun from 1955 to 1957. He was...
, Michio Mamiya, Bin Kaneda, Masamichi Amano
Masamichi Amano
Masamichi Amano is a Japanese music composer, arranger and conductor. He studied at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo and graduated in 1982. He obtained the Takeoka Prize....
, Toshiro Mayuzumi
Toshiro Mayuzumi
Toshiro Mayuzumi was a Japanese composer.-Biography:...
, Toshio Mashima, Isao Matsushita, and many others. Guest conductors of TKWO have included Alfred Reed
Alfred Reed
Alfred Reed was one of North America's most prolific and frequently performed composers, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, wind ensemble, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name...
, Arnald Gabriel, Robert Jager, Ray Cramer, and Craig Kirchoff, to name but a few.
The Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra often performs in Fumon Hall, an enormous auditorium located on the campus of the Rissho Kosei Kai
Rissho Kosei Kai
is a Japanese Buddhist lay movement founded in 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma.-History:Rissho Kosei-kai was founded on March 5, 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma, both former members of the Buddhist sect Reiyūkai. Rev. Niwano met Ms. Naganuma while he was engaged in missionary work...
religious organization in central Tokyo. Fumon Hall also regularly hosts the final level of the All-Japan Band Association
All-Japan Band Association
The All Japan Band Association is an organization that exists solely for the purpose of facilitating an enormous annual music competition among Japanese wind bands...
national band competition. With nearly 14,000 participating bands (and around 500,000 contestants nationwide) the AJBA band contest is currently the world's largest music competition. TKWO is usually hired to make the definitive premier recordings of the required pieces commissioned each year for the enormous competition. TKWO is largely credited with defining the wind band idiom in Japan, where it is enthusiastically supported among school and community ensembles.
Further reading
- David G. Hebert (2011). "Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese Schools". Dordrecht and New York: Springer.
- David G. Hebert (2001). The Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra: A Case Study of Intercultural Music Transmission. Journal of Research in Music Education, 49(3), pp. 212-226.
- Roger E. Rickson (1993). Ffortissimo: A Bio-Discography of Frederick Fennell. Cleveland: Ludwig.
- Tim Willson (1986). Japanese Bands: What Makes Them So Good? Music Educators Journal, 72(5).
External links
- TKWO Official site
- Southern Music Company (Kosei CD distributor)