As the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s (ACO) Japan Market Development Consultants, we were engaged to negotiate and deliver the ACO’s first concerts in Tokyo since 2018. Our role also included facilitating quality media coverage, a Japan-release CD, and relationship building for the future. On ACO’s behalf we also managed key stakeholder relationships with Japanese & Australian businesses and government departments.

Services

• Relationship Negotiation

& Management
• Market Development Strategies
• Translation & Interpreting
• Arts Sector Research & Advice

The Project

The ACO performed a special ‘one-night-only’ concert at Kioi Hall in Tokyo on Tuesday 10 October 2023, becoming the only orchestra other than their resident orchestra — the Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra (KCO) — to be presented by the Hall’s parent company, Nippon Steel. It follows ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti’s successful debut as the first Australian guest conductor and Lead Violin of the KCO in July 2023.

While the ACO have performed in Japan since the late ‘90s, gaining recognition within its notoriously conservative classical music world is difficult. Both its chamber orchestra size, and non-European nationality, present significant challenges for the ACO in breaking into Japan’s classical music scene. The performance, which was planned for 2020 but delayed due to COVID-19, was a culmination of the ACO’s long-running relationship with Kioi Hall, with Tognetti naming the KCO their ‘sister orchestra’. For more details read our journal article here.

The tour also featured a surprise special performance by the ACO ‘Special Unit’ (Richard Tognetti, violin; Satu Vänskä, violin; Stefanie Farrands, viola; Timo-Veikko Valve, cello) at the Kioi Jazz Week Presented by Tokyo Garden Terrace, Kioicho.

Both concerts were incredibly well-received by ACO fans in Japan and if the volume and length of the applause are any indication, there are many people waiting for the ACO to return to give them more.