The Tokyo Metropolitan Government established the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in 1965. In April 1998 the internationally renowned conductor, Gary Bertini, was appointed Music Director. Past Music Directors include Tadashi Mori, Akeo Watanabe and Hiroshi Wakasugi. Jean Fournet was appointed Honorary Conductor in 1989. Kazuhiro Koizumi was appointed Principal Guest Conductor. Tatsuya Yabe and Tomoshige Yamamoto were appointed Solo Concertmaster and Concertmaster respectively.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra has also given many notable performances with renowned guest conductors such as Eliahu Inbal, Sir Neville Marriner, Sergiu Comissiona and James DePreist.
Each year the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra gives over 130 concerts including Subscription Concerts, Promenade Concerts, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space Series, elementary and junior high school concerts, operas and recordings. These performances have led the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra to become one of the foremost orchestras in Japan.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra won the Kyoto Music Award in 1991 for its consistently ambitious activities including its Japanese Composers Series and the Hiroshi Wakasugi & TMSO / Mahler Series at Suntory Hall.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra began to tour in 1977 with a concert tour to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. This was followed by the tour to Seoul in 1986 and twenty other cities in Western Europe including London, Paris and Berlin in 1988. Subsequent concert tours in China, Finland, and the USA continue to be a success.
For Naxos, TMSO's Japanese Orchestral Favourites will be released in April, 2002
March, 2002