Unity of Nations
Tokyo Philharmonic
Orchestra
Orchestra
Dubai, UAE
The stage of Dubai Opera will be lit with the stars of not one but two major maestros on Sunday, 13th April 2025, as the 14th InClassica International Music Festival, organised by SAMIT Event Group, presents a symphonic concert featuring the renowned Japanese violinist Fumiaki Miura, and the celebrated US violist David Aaron Carpenter, performing with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Chief Conductor Andrea Battistoni. The concert will open with Hector Berlioz’s vivacious "Roman Carnival" overture, Op. 9, a colourful showpiece inspired by the composer’s passion for Italian opera. Following this, Miura and Carpenter will take the spotlight in Alexey Shor’s Violin and Viola Concerto, a contemporary composition showcasing a thrilling dialogue between the two instruments, delivering melodic and emotional harmonies. After a brief intermission, the evening will conclude with Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, a vibrant celebration of Bohemian folk songs distinctive of its varying moods, featuring a bright sequence of pastoral images, dance, march temperaments, and passages of amplified drama.
Described by The London Times at his 1975 piano recital debut as having ‘all the attributes of one of the world’s greatest players’, Papadopoulos has gone on to enjoy an international career both as pianist and conductor.
He has appeared as soloist with and conducted many of the world’s greatest orchestras and worked with a host of eminent musicians including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Janine Jansen, Evgeny Kissin, Maxim Vengerov, Martha Argerich and Lang Lang. His recordings of the Beethoven sonatas have been set on a level with Schnabel, Brendel, Barenboim and Wilhelm Kempff.
A prolific recording artist, Papadopoulos’s catalogue includes his critically acclaimed Beethoven sonatas, performances of Stravinsky’s Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the 24 Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich. He conducts the Oxford Philharmonic in recordings of the Brahms and Sibelius violin concertos with Maxim Vengerov as soloist. As a pianist, he and Vengerov have recorded the complete Brahms violin sonata.
In the summer of 2021, Papadopoulos published his first book – a memoir titled Beyond Dreams and Aspirations: My Journey to Oxford which charts his early career, the creation of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, and his thoughts on musical interpretation.
Papadopoulos is dedicated to nurturing young talent and imparts knowledge to young artists through his vast experience, particularly during the annual Oxford Piano Festival which he founded in 1999. He served on the jury of the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2015, as well as that of the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 2016.
Marios Papadopoulos holds a doctorate in music and is a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. In 2010 and was awarded Oxford City’s Certificate of Honour and in 2014 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to music in Oxford.
Born in Tokyo, Fumiaki Miura starts his musical education with Tsugio Tokunaga at his hometown Conservatory before moving to Vienna to carry on his studies with Pavel Vernikov and Julian Rachlin. Since aged 16, Fumiaki is mentored and guided by Pinchas Zukerman. In 2009 he was awarded First Prize at the prestigious Joseph Joachim Hannover International Violin Competition, being the youngest winner ever.
His 23/24 season is highlighted by solo performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, ADDA Sinfónica de Alicante, Orchestra del Teatro Goldoni di Livorno, and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Turkey. In addition, he will continue his chamber music activity with his partner pianist Itamar Golan in Italy, as well as with Varvara and Jonathan Roozeman, making his debut at the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical in Madrid.
Miura has performed with orchestras including Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Wiener Kammerorchester, Prague Philharmonia, Mariinsky Theater, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, NAC Orchestra Ottawa, Orchestre de Chambre Lausanne, Warsaw Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokio Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Japan Philarmonic, Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, BBC Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorf Symphoniker, hr-Sinfonieorchester or Hong Kong Sinfonietta, among others. Fumiaki Miura plays under the baton of conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Pinchas Zukerman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Kazushi Ono, Hannu Lintu, Jakub Hrůša, Vasily Petrenko, Josep Pons, Patrick Hahn, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Stéphane Denève, Kristjan Järvi, Tatsuya Shimono, Terry Fisher, and Rafael Payaré.
Regular invitations to international music festivals include the Miyazaki International Music, Ravinia Festival, Julian Rachlin and Friends, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Musique de Menton, Gyeonggi Chamber Music Festivalnd Menuhin Festival Gstaad. Fumiaki has also performed at the Auditorium du Louvre and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Auditorio in Madrid, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Elbephiharmonie in Hamburg and at the Wigmore Hall in London.
Miura has collaborated with artists like Yuri Bashmet, Itamar Golan, Sunwook Kim, Mischa Maisky, Maria João Pires, Lawrence Power, Julian Rachlin, Torleif Thedéen, Nobuyuki Tsujii, Jonathan Roozeman, Varvara or Pinchas Zukerman.
Since 2018 he has been artistic director of Suntory Hall ARK Classics and has just completed the 2023 edition together with artists such as Nobuyuki Tsujii, Jonathan Roozeman, Young Soung and Sergei Nakariakov. In the summer of 2023, Fumiaki toured Japan - as soloist and conductor - with ARK Sinfoniettta, an orchestra formed especially for ARK Classics with eminent young artists. Months earlier, he performed Mozart's Symphonie Concertante with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Pinchas Zukerman at the baton.
In 2022 Fumiaki was also elected "Forbes 30 under 30 Asia" after being elected "Forbes 30 under 30 Japan" in 2019. In 2024, to celebrate his 15th anniversary after his debut, Fumiaki will perform complete cycles of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Japanese pianist Kazune Shimizu at Suntory Hall.
His discography includes Prokofiev violin sonatas with the pianist Itamar Golan for Sony Japan, as well as Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin concertos with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Hannu Lintu released by Avex-Classics label.
Miura performs on the Guarneri del Gesu 1732 violin “Kaston” kindly loaned by Crystco Inc. and its CEO, Mr. Hikaru Shimura.
Recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award, First Prize Winner of the Walter E. Naumburg Viola Competition and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, David Aaron Carpenter is widely considered one of the most talented and charismatic musicians of his generation.
David is a former Rolex “Protégé” for which he was mentored by Pinchas Zukerman. David made his solo debut at the Kennedy Center after winning the Presidential Scholar Award and the first-ever Gold Medal Award at the National Foundation For Advancement In The Arts. Since then he has performed with leading musicians and orchestras around the world, from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the Philharmonia, the Dresden Staatskapelle to the Lucerne Symphony.
As a chamber musician, David has collaborated with such renowned artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Sarah Chang, Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer, Alan Gilbert, Julian Rachlin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jan Vogler, and Yuja Wang. He is a regular guest artist at the Verbier Music Festival, and was proud to be an integral part of their 20th anniversary season. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, which he co-founded with his brother Sean and sister Lauren.
David received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from Princeton University in 2008. David was featured in The New Yorker article “Musical Gold” by Rebecca Mead in July, 2014, on the cover of The Strad magazine in August 2013, and a few months earlier was the subject of a three-page article in The New York Times. Along with the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, David released his Warner Classics recording featuring Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Shor's Twelve Seasons. His newest release on Warner Classics features the Bartok, Walton, Shor and Dvorak Concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestros Vladimir Jurowski, David Parry, and Kazushi Ono.
David plays on a viola made by Michele Deconet, Venice (1766).
In 2023, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its 112th anniversary of Japan’s first symphony orchestra. With about 160 musicians, TPO performs both symphonies and operas regularly. TPO is proud to have appointed Maestro Myung-Whun Chung, who has been conducting TPO since 2001, as Honorary Music Director, Maestro Andrea Battistoni as Chief Conductor and Maestro Mikhail Pletnev as Special Guest Conductor.
TPO has established its world-class reputation through its subscription concert series, regular opera and ballet assignments at the New National Theatre, and a full, ever in-demand agenda around Japan and the world, including broadcasting with NHK Broadcasting Corporation, various educational programs, and tours abroad. While Tokyo Phil is a frequent recipient of the ACA National Arts Festival Award in Japan, its recordings have been highly acclaimed internationally, winning the "OPUS KLASSIK 2021" award in the symphonic category (20th-21st century).
Read MoreTPO has partnerships with Bunkamura Orchard Hall, the Bunkyo Ward in Tokyo, Chiba City, Karuizawa Cho in Nagano and Nagaoka City in Niigata.
The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra has the longest history and tradition of any orchestra in Japan, having been originally established in Nagoya in 1911. It is currently the largest orchestra in Japan with 166 members and is distinguished for its active and varied schedule embracing symphonic concerts, opera and ballet.
After moving its base to Tokyo in 1938 the orchestra played a pivotal role in bringing authentic opera to the Japanese public under Chief conductor Manfred Gurlitt (1890-1972.) Shortly after the war, the orchestra became a fully independent organization and changed its name to the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra focusing on subscription concerts, opera and ballet while also pursuing an active broadcasting program with NHK.
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performs regularly at Tokyo's most distinguished Suntory and Orchard Halls and at Tokyo Opera City where it has its base. The orchestra has received many awards and honors, including the Ongaku No Tomo Sha Prize (1984), the Agency for Cultural Affairs "Art Festival Prize"(1986) and "Art Festival Grand Prize" (1995). Furthermore, the orchestra has been designated as one of the organizations for the Agency for Cultural Affairs "Special Program to Artistic Creativity". From 1997 it became the regular orchestra at Tokyo's New National Theatre.
In 1999, Norio Ohga, Chairman of SONY Corporation, was appointed Chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2001, with visions of further growth, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra merged with the Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra.
From 2001, Myung-Whun Chung has been the Special Artistic Advisor of Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Under his guidance the Orchestra carries out regular subscription concerts at Orchard Hall and Suntory Hall in Tokyo and opera and ballet performances at the New National Theatre while also continuing a varied broadcasting and special concert program.
In 2011 Mr. Ryoji Chubachi, Vice Chairman, Representative Corporate Executive Officer of Sony Corporation,assumed the position of the Tokyo Philharmonic's President, and Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, Inc., became Chairman.
In 2012, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra's 100th Anniversary Special Concert, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, was held at Suntory Hall.
The Orchestra regularly performs in regions outside Tokyo and engages in regional cultural exchange and education programs. Tokyo Philharmonic has carried out 3 well-received European tours and is regarded as an upcoming world-class orchestra.
