ABBA

Four years later in 1971 the orchestra employed Hiroyuki Awaki and Yoshikazu Fukimara as their General Music Director and Permanent Director respectively and in 1973 the orchestra were awarded an endowment by the City of Nagoya.

In 1974 the General Music Director position was taken over by Tadashi Mori and Shunji Aratani became the Permanent Conductor that same year. The orchestra continued under this leadership for ten years until 1981 when Yuzo Toyama took over as the sole holder of the two positions that had previously been held by Awaki and Fukimara. He broadened their repertoire and added more members and in 1986 he led the orchestra for many concerts and special events to mark their 20^th anniversary.

He was then followed in 1987 when Moshe Atzmon took over as Permanent Conductor and in 1988 they made their first international tour to Switzerland and France. Under Atzmon’s directorship in 1990 they received the 23^rd Tokai TV Cultural Prize and in 1991 they were the recipients of the Aichia Prefecture Arts and Cultural Prize.

Moshe Atzmon stayed until 1993, but was made an honorary conductor following the end of his tenure, and was succeeded by Taijiro Iimori who held the post until 1998. During his time with the orchestra the new offshoot which was the Nagoya Philharmony Pops Orchestra came to be in 1995 under the leadership of Bob Sakuma. The following year the orchestra won the 1996 Agency for Cultural Affairs Work of Art Award for their 30^th anniversary concert recording,

A lot changed in 1998 after Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi became the General Musical Conductor and Permanent Conductor. The orchestra toured Asia to much acclaim in 2000 and he changed the General Musical Conductor’s title to simply Musical Conductor in 2001. When he finished his tenure in 2003 the role of Permanent Conductor was removed from the orchestra. Kobayshi has remained the Conductor Laureate since his parting in 2003.

The new director Ryusuke Numajiri was given the title of Chief Conductor in 2003 and the following year he led the orchestra in their invitational appearance at the Prague Spring International Music Festival and a successful European tour. Two years later the orchestra went on another successful tour of Asia.

The Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer took over the position of Chief Conductor in 2008. He has also held the position of Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and led the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

The orchestra. of currently 75 members, can be heard giving their concerts, often with acclaimed guest conductors and soloists, at the Chukyo University Center for Culture and Arts Aurora Hall and the Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater Concert Hall.

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