Takashi Niigaki emerges from the ashes of a scandal with a symphony to call his own
On Feb. 6, 2014, composer Takashi Niigaki faced a crowd of reporters at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo and took a deep and apologetic bow. He had just revealed that he was ghostwriter for Mamoru Samuragochi, who was celebrated as "Japan's Beethoven" before ...
'Maverick' conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura finds a home with Philippine orchestra
At the start of this month, Yoshikazu Fukumura took up the post of music director for the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, whose sound he describes as unique in Asia. The 69-year-old native of Tokyo, considered something of a maverick in the classical music scene in Japan, ...
Tokyo violin maker's apprentice fulfills lifetime dream at 81
Japan Times Community article rekindled Tokyo academic's thwarted 70-year ambition to craft a thing of beauty.
Pianist Adachi delves further into the world of Croatian classical music
During his six-year stay in Croatia, pianist Tomohiro Adachi was introduced to a remarkable woman named Dora Pejacevic. Pejacevic was born into a Croatian noble family in 1885 and went on to become Croatia's first female composer. She died in 1923, but Adachi hopes that ...
Samuragochi scandal shows that tin-eared classical music fans can be suckers for stories
What makes Mamoru Samuragochi's story interesting is not that he got away with his subterfuge for so long, but that the media, the public and even professional musicians accepted the story as being proof of his value as an artist.
Seiji Ozawa ends summer on high note
Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe reportedly once said “God is in the details.” Conductor Seiji Ozawa would literally agree. He meets The Japan Times at a cafe he frequents in Tokyo’s Seijo district.
