Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra

The Orchestra has performed noteworthy programs since its earliest days, including a performance by conductor Aram Khachaturian and violin soloist Leonid Kogan in 1963, the year after its founding.
Principal Conductors over the years include the well-known names Hiroshi Wakasugi (third Principal Conductor), Heinz Rner (fifth Principal Conductor) and Gerd Albrecht (seventh Principal Conductor), and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (eighth Principal Conductor). Sylvain Cambreling joined the YNSO in April 2010 as the ninth Principal Conductor and has energetically pursued a broad range of activities.  Since its founding, the YNSO has welcomed the world-renowned masters L. Stokowski, Z. Mehta, G. Wand, S. Celibidache, L. Maazel, M. Rostropovich, N. Santi, Y. Temirkanov and V. Gergiev to the conductor podium and has been host to such illustrious soloists as A. Rubinstein, S. Richter, M. Argerich, Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma and Midori Goto.
Following its first overseas tour to North America in 1967, the YNSO has traveled to Europe six times between 1971 and 2003 in addition to touring Thailand in 1996 and China in 1997. In 2000, the YNSO became the first Japanese orchestra invited to perform in the annual Abonnement series at Great Festival Hall in Salzburg. In March 2015, the YNSO will embark on its European tour in 12 years, with concerts scheduled in vibrant classical music centers such as Berlin, Cologne and Brussels.   The Orchestra has been the recipient of many illustrious honors, including the National Arts Festival award in 1968 for the first performance in Japan of Krzysztof Penderecki痴 St. Luke Passion, and more recently the National Arts Festival Grand Prize sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan for Aribert Reimann痴 opera Medea.
The YNSO performs seven major concert series and approximately 100 concerts annually, with Subscription Concerts performed at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Audiences are charmed with an appealing depth of programming, from well-known masterpieces to avant-garde works. In 2013, the YNSO received the honor of hosting Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan at a special performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
Subscription Concerts and other performances by the Orchestra are broadcast on the Nippon Television Network and BS Nippon Television Network in the Yomikyo Symphonic Live series.