Daily Pulse

Classical Promoter Nikkyo Folds

Following the folding of Musik Leben earlier this year, another prominent Japanese classical music promoter has called it quits because of the global recession.

Nippon Kokyogaku Kyokai, or Nikkyo for short, was forced to cancel an Iceland Symphony Orchestra tour of Japan last fall. The promoter could not absorb the financial costs of the cancellation and has since gone under.

Kajimoto, one of Japan’s oldest and most respected classical music presenters, is also suffering after canceling several tours of its own, according to the Yomiuri newspaper.

The West Australia Symphony Orchestra was scheduled to come to Japan this month but had to pull out after one of its main sponsors, an Australian natural gas company, announced it would stop giving the ensemble financial assistance.

However, the downturn has been just as harsh on local musicians. Japan’s oldest orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, has lost 20 corporate sponsors since October and had to cancel a planned concert tour for 2011, which will mark the group’s 100th anniversary.

The orchestra has cut 40 million yen ($400,000) from its budget by reducing office expenses and salaries for musicians and staff by an average of 8 percent. The Japan Philharmonic reports it has lost 26 sponsors and the New Japan Philharmonic has canceled its European tour this summer.

Another reason for the slump is a recent trend in Japan toward municipal consolidation. During the prolonged economic slump of the ’90s, many adjacent local governments merged in order to pool resources and save money, resulting in larger municipal entities.

These new entities usually have more than one event hall and the government closes all but one as a fiscal countermeasure, therefore reducing the number of venues available to classical artists.

The fewer venues in a given locality, the less likely that hall managers, given a choice, will invite classical artists rather than popular ones.
 

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