Biography
Founded in 1988 by Ishikawa Prefecture and Kanazawa City, the orchestra's founding music director was the late, world-renowned conductor Hiroyuki Iwaki (who is currently the permanent honorary music director). Japan's first professional chamber orchestra, it has a total of 40 members, including many foreign musicians. It gives approximately 100 concerts a year, including subscription concerts featuring world-class artists in Hokuriku, Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. It has toured abroad 20 times in Asia, Oceania, and Europe. It is frequently invited to music festivals, such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany and the La Roque d'Antheron International Piano Music Festival in France. Since its founding, the orchestra has established a Composer-in-Residence program, now called Composer of the Year, commissioning new compositions from Japanese and international composers for premiere and CD release. The Composer of the Year has also been actively involved in developing and promoting orchestras. He has coached the Ishikawa Junior Orchestra, performed with local students, and collaborated with traditional Japanese musicians. The orchestra has been involved in new operas from Kanazawa, as well as national collaborative opera projects. It has been the resident orchestra of La Folle Journée Kanazawa since 2008 and the Ishikawa-Kanazawa Wind and Green Music Town Festival since 2017. The orchestra has released over 90 CDs on Deutsche Grammophon and other major labels.