Wind Band

Fanfare for Tokyo

Grade 5 | 3 Mins

Fanfare for Tokyo was commissioned by the Tokyo Wind Symphony Orchestra to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2013. It was premiered at their special anniversary concert in October that year, conducted by Maestro Yasuhiko Shiozawa.

The Tokyo Wind Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1963 by Masato Yamamoto; it was the first professional wind orchestra in Japan and gave its inaugural concert in November that year. Since its formation the orchestra has performed many subscription and special concerts, as well as making successful recordings and TV appearances. The orchestra is widely-known throughout Japan by its nickname Tousui and actively contributes to the development of wind music in Japan. Yasuhiko Shiozawa has been its musical director since 1983. In 1993 the orchestra was awarded The Japanese Wind Music Academy Award by the Japanese Wind Music Society for its services to wind music in Japan.

The orchestra met composer Philip Sparke in September 2012 when they together gave a highly successful concert as part of the 3rd Korean International Wind Band Festival in Seoul. This led to a further collaboration in the form of this commission to write a fanfare for the orchestra’s 50th anniversary concert. 

Fanfare for Tokyo is a flamboyant and extrovert concert opener designed to celebrate the virtuosic character of the talented Tokyo Wind Symphony Orchestra. 

A central theme over persistent percussion is first given by bassoons and taken up by the full ensemble. Either side of this horns and euphoniums lead an acrobatic fanfare under woodwind flourishes.