HarrisonParrott is delighted to manage the inaugural BBC Proms Japan in 2019, presented and sponsored by Daiwa Securities Group and supported by the Scottish Government. The six day festival with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor, Thomas Dausgaard takes place at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo and The Symphony Hall in Osaka from 30 October to 4 November.

The programme for the First Night of the Proms includes Mendelssohn’s overture of The Hebrides, Tchaikovsky’s Concerto for Piano No. 1 performed by Yulianna Avdeeva, who makes her debut with BBC Scottish Symphony and Thomas Dausgaard in Glasgow this week, and concludes with Mahler’s Symphony No.5. The Orchestra travel to Osaka for one concert on the 31 October at The Symphony Hall before moving back to Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo for concerts on 2, 3 and 4 November, which mark the Last Night of the Proms. Saxophonist Jess Gilliam joins the Orchestra during the Last Night of the Proms for Milhaud’s Scaramouche along with Japanese soprano Mako Mori with works by Maxwell Davies, Ravel and Elgar. Last year Gillam featured at the BBC Proms in London and was quoted as ​“the indisputable highlight of the Last Night of the Proms” (BBC News).

In Yokohama, interactive musical workshops are held as part of the BBC Proms Education Project in partnership with the British Council Tokyo and Scottish Government. On 3 November the BBC Proms Experimental Session is held with BBC Radio 3 Presenter Nick Luscombe and Ken Nishikawa from Tokyo FM to hear an eclectic mix artists such as Carl Stone and Akaihirume, Sugai Ken, Emiko Miura and Masanori Oishi.

The Orchestra’s first tour to Japan sees the musicians perform a free performance on the streets of Shibuya, enabling audiences to enjoy music in a more immediate and intimate way. 

Following her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut with Gustavo Dudamel last May, Avdeeva’s 2019/20 season includes debuts with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under the baton of Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop, and a return to Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder’s direction. A regular performer throughout the Asia-Pacific region, she worked with New Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, as well as with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Bamberger Symphoniker on tours of Japan most recently.