Yokohama Choral Society
－横浜合唱協会－

Yokohama Choral Society (YCS) was founded in 1970 with the vision of making full-fledged performances of the choral works of J. S. Bach. With the members planning and managing the concerts by themselves, YCS has been active in performing various classical sacred works. While placing a major emphasis on J. S. Bach, YCS has also performed works of various other composers, ranging from Baroque and Romantic composers, such as Schütz, Mendelssohn and Brahms to modern and contemporary composers, such as Frank Martin and Arvo Pärt.

The resident conductor is Takeshi Yamagami. The trainers, who provide the choir members with both voice training and music training, are Chinatsu Kijima (Sop.), Akiko Ogawa (Alt.), Akihide Kobayashi (Ten.), and Masakazu Sano (Bas.).

Having organized more than 50 regular concerts, YCS has had the privilege of performing with renowned guest conductors, such as Michio Kobayashi, Hiroshi Wakabayashi, Hideomi Kuroiwa and Herr Prof. G. C. Biller, the previous Thomaskantor from Leipzig.

In 2000, with the kind cooperation of Prof. Biller and many others, YCS organized “BACH FEST 2000 TOKIO” in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Bach's death and its 30th anniversary.

In 2002, YCS had the second German tour and performed at three locations including the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.

In 2004, under the baton of Prof. Biller, YCS performed the early version of St. Matthew Passion (BWV244b), which was well-received by the choral circle.

The fourth German tour in September 2015 was particularly significant as it provided an opportunity for performance exchange and joint concert with amici musicae, a choir and orchestra based in Leipzig. In October 2017, YCS is scheduled to organize another joint concert with amici musicae, inviting them to Yokohama.

Ms. Kijima graduated from Kunitachi College of Music and was taught by Michiko Matsuo, Kinuyo Kawaguchi and Chikako Hashimoto. In 1992, she went to the U. K. to devote herself to voice training under the guidance of J. Cash. She won the fourth place at the Brugge International Early Music Competition in 1993 and was invited to the music festival of the competition in the next year to sing the solo part of Mozart's Grabmusik K.42. Also, she has performed at a number of music festivals and concerts in Europe, including Charpentier's opera "David and Jonathas" conducted by W. Christie and a duo recital with Nigel North. She returned to Japan in 1995 after completing the Early Music Course of Guildhall School of Music and Drama and acquiring a performance diploma at the Royal College of Music. Although her performance activity mainly focuses on the baroque, she has a wide-ranging repertoire, including renaissance music, German lieds and modern music. Currently, she is an instructor at the St. Gregory's House Institute for Religious Music and a member of Cappella Gregoriana Favorina, a vocal ensemble of the St. Gregory's House.

Ms. Ogawa graduated from the Faculty of Music and completed the master course of the Graduate School of Music of the Tokyo University of Arts, specializing in solo vocal music. She has also completed a training course at the Opera Institute of the Agency of Cultural Affairs and was a student of well-known vocal singers/instructors, such as Keizo Takahashi, Takanosuke Watanabe, Toshiko Toda, Jun Mohri and Adele Haas. After receiving a number of awards including the Second Award in the Vocal Music Section of the 61^st Music Competition of Japan in 1992, the Third Award in the 4^th Vocal Music Contest of Japan, the First Prize and Kosaku Yamada Award in the 4^th Sogakudo Japanese Song Contest, she studied in Vienna for a year from November 1997, sponsored by the Agency of Cultural Affairs of the Japanese government.

As a soloist, she has performed religious music composed by Bach, Händel, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Bruckner, etc., and taken part in concerts of “Symphony No. 9” by Beethoven, “Song of Lamentation (Das Klagende Lied)”, “Resurrection Symphony (Auferstefung)” and “The Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde)” by Mahler, “The First Walpurgis Night (Das erste Werpurgisnacht)” by Mendelssohn and “Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette)” by Berlioz, among others. She has also appeared in operas, such as “The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte)” by Mozart, “Hansel and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel)” by Humperdinck, “In the evening, congratulation songs are heard (Iwaiuta ga nagareru yoru ni)” by Kazuko Hara, “Spirits of Another Sort (Tenshu Monogatari)” by Shuko Mizuno, “The Child and the Spells (L'enfant et les sortilèges) by Ravel and “The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer)“ by Wagner.

She has released a number of CD albums; “Selected Japanese Songs” in 2003, “Singing Takuboku and Misuzu” in 2006, “Karatachi no Hana - Songs by Kosaku Yamada” in 2008, “Kojo no Tsuki - Great Composers of Japanese Songs” in 2010, “Sakura Yokocho – Four Collections of Songs by Yoshinao Nakata” in 2012, “Soshunfu – Selected Japanese Songs 2” (Piano: Hiroaki Yamada) in 2014 and “Karamatsu – Japanese Songs Performed by an Alto and a Guitarist”(Guitar: Kiyoshi Shomura). Many of her performances can be heard on YouTube.

She is a member of Nikikai Opera Foundation.

Mr. Kobayashi graduated from the Vocal Music Course of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music and completed the graduate school of the University. He also completed the 6th class of the Opera Training Institute of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. He received the Tenor Special Prize at the 16th Concorso di Lilica Italiana and won a prize at the 56th Music Competition of Japan. He has appeared in a number of concerts, such as the NHK FM Recital, Beethoven's Symphony No.9 and Mozart's Requiem. His opera repertoire includes Tamino in "The Magic Flute", Nemorino in "The Elixir of Love" and Camille in "The Merry Widow". He was sent to Italy in October 1989 by the Agency for Cultural Affairs to pursue his studies. During his one-year stay in Italy, he won the second place at the 8th El Corano International Vocal Competition. He was taught by Akihiko Mori, Teruo Mitsubayashi, Shojiro Hikita, Yoshihisa Yamaji, Virgilia Polonini and Carlo Mericiani. Mr. Kobayashi is currently a member of the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation.

Mr. Sano graduated from the Vocal Music Course of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music with honors. Upon graduation, he has the privilege of performing in the presence of the Emperor at Toka Gakudo in the Imperial Palace. He also completed the Vocal Music Course of the graduate school of the University. He won the second place at the Japan Italy Vocal Concorso and the Cercle Deux Colonnes and received a prize at the Music Competition of Japan as well as an encouragement prize at the Sogakudo Japanese Song Competition. He has played many roles in opera performances, such as Don Giovanni in "Don Giovanni", Rigoletto in "Rigoletto", Germont in "La Traviata" and Marcello in "La Boheme". He has also served as a soloist in a number of religious music performances, such as "Requiem" by Mozart, Fauré and Duruflé, "German Requiem" by Brahms, "Messiah" by Handel, "Cantata" by Bach, "The Death of Jesus" by Graun (the first performance in Japan), "Messe" by Puccini and Schubert. For three consecutive years from 1996 to 1998, he appeared as a soloist in the Japan-US Friendship Concert of Symphony No.9 at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Currently, Mr. Sano is a lecturer at Shobi Junior College and Seitoku University. He is also a member of Sankikai, Japan Italy Music Association, Japan Vocalists Academy, La Société Fauré du Japon, Japan Federation of Musicians and the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation.