is a Japanese conductor. Born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Hirokami studied conducting, piano, musicology, and viola at the Tokyo College of Music. He won the first Kondrashin International Conducting Competition in Amsterdam in September 1984 at age 26. One of the judges of that competition, pianist

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

, then engaged Hirokami to conduct the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra was founded as the ''New Symphony Orchestr ...

on a tour of Japan with Ashkenazy in May 1985. From 1991-1996, he was Chief Conductor of the

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra () is a Swedish professional symphony orchestra. It is based at the concert hall Louis de Geer konsert & kongress, De Geerhallen, in the center of Norrköping. History The orchestra was founded in 1912, an ...

. He served as Chief Conductor of the Limburg Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2000. He has also been the Principal Guest Conductor of both the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...

. Hirokami became the Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra on June 1, 2006, with an initial contract for 3 years. During the orchestra's 2008 financial crisis, Hirokami strongly supported the musicians during a protracted contract dispute, which caused strained relations between Hirokami and the orchestra's board and management. On November 13, 2008, in a letter to the orchestra's musicians, Hirokami announced that the board of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra had dismissed him from his post, effective immediately. Since April 2008, he has served as Chief Conductor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, with an initial contract of 3 years. Hirokami and his wife Yukari have a daughter, Kimiko. In 1973, pop singer Junko Sakurada's music inspired then 15-year-old Hirokami so that he started a fan club dedicated to her.

References

External links

Kyoto Symphony Orchestra English-language page on Hirokami

Hazard Chase (agency), "Junichi Hirokami appointed chief conductor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra". September 2007.

Los Angeles Philharmonic biography of Hirokami, April 2000

Limburg Symphony Orchestra Dutch-language page on orchestra history
1958 births 20th-century Japanese conductors (music) Hirokami, Junichi Living people Tokyo College of Music alumni Academic staff of the Tokyo College of Music Academics from Tokyo Musicians from Tokyo {{conductor-stub