The world-renowned Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (TKWO) has just announced their 2018/2019 season with 5 exciting subscription programmes.
Featuring a different conductor in each program, they include the following veteran maestros – Kazuyoshi Akiyama (Senzoku Gakuen College of Music), Takeshi Ooi (principal conductor of TKWO), Paul Meyer (former principal conductor of TKWO) and Eiji Oue (former Minnesota Orchestra music director).
Winner of the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition 2016 and the new Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony, Singaporean rising conductor Kahchun Wong has also been invited by TKWO to make his conducting debut with them in not just one, but two cities in their upcoming season!
They will first perform together in Tokyo on 23 November, and then Osaka on 24 November 2018.
A welcomed guest in the Japanese music scene, Kahchun is already embarking on a four-city tour this May/June as a conductor with the Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Symphony, Hiroshima Symphony and Kyushu Symphony.
He thinks of his programme with TKWO as a little tribute to his own musical upbringing in Singapore. The repertoire includes Invocation and Toccata by James Barnes and Spartacus by Jan van der Roost – both pieces that Kahchun has played during his SYF band days in secondary school.
They will also perform Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, most often heard in the orchestration by Ravel. This time however, Kahchun has selected the version by Tohru Takahashi instead, which has been transcribed with the sound of the wind orchestra in mind from the beginning.
“The first CD I ever bought was Tokyo Kosei playing Invocation and Toccata when I was in Secondary 1”, says Kahchun.
“I am so thrilled to reconnect with the band scene, with music from my growing-up years that I have been intimately connected with!”
A contributing editor at TBP.