Here are materials related to my paper: “Promoting regional heritage and tourism through music: the case of Yamagata Symphony Orchestra”
Banner photo: At Yamagata station ticket barrier, a poster announces that YSO plays the departure jingle for the Shinkansen. In the following short video, Kyodo News reports the introduction of the new jingle.
Websites:
Yamagata Symphony Orchestra. The page describing the Mission and Vision is here. A history in English of the orchestra is here.
Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras (the yearbooks from which data was taken for the paper are here)
Yamagata prefectural tourism website
One of YSO’s strongest local supporters is the Yamagata Shinbun newspaper. While the open access articles are limited, the article database at Yamagata Prefectural Library reveals just how frequently YSO is in the news (about every 2-3 days in the period 2019-2024)
Composers who have written pieces evoking Yamagata that have been performed by YSO
Murakawa Chiaki, the founder of YSO, made this arrangement of Mogamigawa funauta (Mogami River Boat Song), a famous local melody.
Satoh Toshinao: Oratorio “Yamagata” (performed at YSO’s second Tokyo concert in 1988). Excerpts are available in the video below shot at Yamadera.
Ozone Makoto: Piano Concerto “Mogami” (performed in Yamagata in 2003 and 2020). Excerpts are available in the video documentary below about how YSO overcame the pandemic.
Kijima Yumiko: Fuka, Yamadera nite (commissioned for the 50th anniversary of YSO, first performed 18 June 2022).
Oda Miyuko: A Journey to Rebirth: Memories of Dewa Mountains (an excerpt from the performance on 22/23 October 2022 is below)
Ueda Motoki: Dreams of Vague Memories (first performance 5 August 2023)
Yamamoto Natsumi: Kodama (performed at the concert I attended in Yamagata on 7 September 2024).
YouTube videos:
There is a wide range of videos on YouTube that shows how and why YSO has developed such a strong relationship with its local community in Yamagata. The videos are all in Japanese, but many do not need much translation …
A 2-minute quick introduction to the orchestra.
An introduction to the orchestra using the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras Yearbook and the orchestra’s official 40-year history.
A video featuring the brass section playing at Yamadera. This video has over a quarter of a million views.
YSO members feature in a PR video by the prefectural tourism association.
A video documentary about the musical city of Yamagata. It features interviews with YSO founder Murakawa Chiaki and Executive Director Nishihama Hideki, as well as a good introduction to the amateur music scene in Yamagata.
A talk event (Japanese only) in which Murakawa Chiaki talks about setting up the YSO.
A compilation of the short videos of YSO members playing Hanagusa Ondo. This video series was shot in 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
A documentary video about how YSO coped with the coronavirus pandemic. It includes rehearsal excerpts from Ozone Makoto‘s piano concerto Mogami, named after the river that flows through Yamagata prefecture. A Mainichi Shinbun article about both the 2003 premiere and 2020 performance is here.
This video by Classical Music YouTuber Naco introduces various restaurants and tourist sites in Yamagata before going backstage to see the preparations for a concert … This is the image created by the slogan “The orchestra from a wonderland of onsen and gastronomy”.
This video on the Yamagata Toyota YouTube channel shows how a local company gains corporate PR via sponsorship of a concert: the Green Concert sponsored by Japan’s largest car manufacturer.
A football fan records YSO members playing “Spirit of Yamagata” at a match of local team Montedio Yamagata.
Yamagata Television station YTS reports how members of the orchestra take part in rice planting each year, and that local rice is promoted at YSO concerts.
In another report, YTS report on how a YSO member is coaching the wind band club at a school in the prefecture.
Another form of school outreach is the school concert. In this concert the orchestra asks children to guess the animal from the music. The music was composed by Murakawa Chiaki (founder of YSO) who saw school concerts as the fundamental reason for founding YSO.
A video showing how Executive Director Nishihama Hideki drums up support and corporate sponsors for the orchestra.
In this video, Nishihama Hideki discusses orchestra management with Fujino Kazuo of the Professional College of Arts and Tourism, a specialist university dealing in the connection between co-promoting the arts and tourism.
Finally, an interesting way of ensuring local government support. Play a concert in the prefectural assembly to local politicians and an audience in the gallery …!