TMC to Hold 29th Toyota Youth Orchestra Camp in Tokyo

Toyota City, Japan — Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces that TMC and the Federation of Japan Amateur Orchestras Corporation (JAO) will jointly hold the 29th Toyota Youth Orchestra Camp at the Tokyo College of Music in Toshima Ward, Tokyo from March 27 to 30, 2013.

The 29th camp will be led by Junichi Hirokami, who has performed with orchestras in Japan and overseas, and who is currently chief conductor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra and professor of conducting at the Tokyo College of Music. Hirokami is also passionate about developing the next generation of musicians. For the first time, the venue for the camp will be a music college: the Tokyo College of Music, also Hirokami’s alma mater.

An additional regional contribution program, the Toyota Musical Instrument Friends Conference, will be held on March 29. Children from Tokyo will be invited to the conference and provided with instruction on specific musical instruments from camp instructors.

The Toyota Youth Orchestra Camp, sponsored by TMC as part of its social contribution activities, has been conducted in conjunction with the JAO as a four-day study program since 1985 to cultivate and train young* musicians from across Japan. Leading professional musicians act as instructors, encouraging the pupils to grow independently and helping them develop performance skills and techniques with the aim that valuable experience be taken away and exercised in regional orchestras. To date, the camp has been host to more than 5,000 pupils, with many past participants now active in such orchestras.

The annual camp runs in a two-year cycle, with a special public concert held in March of the second year to showcase the results of the pupils’ efforts. Next year, the concert, also marking the camp’s 30th anniversary, will be held at Suntory Hall in central Tokyo.

More information (in Japanese) on the camp is available at http://www.toyota.co.jp/tyoc/, while general information (in English) on the camp is available here.

The media and the general public are welcome to visit the camp.

*From 13 to 23 years of age