Toho Gakuen School of Music

Toho Gakuen School of Music (桐朋学園大学) is a private music school in Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan.

History
Toho Gakuen was founded in 1948 in Ichigaya (Tokyo) as the Music School for Children, and two years later moved to Sengawa (current address at Wakabacyo, Chōfu-shi, Tokyo) and opened the Toho High School of Music, to provide quality musical education to teenage girls. Nov.1954 moved to Sengawa (Wakabacyo, Chōfu-shi, Tokyo). 1955 saw the establishment of the Junior College and in 1961 the Junior College becomes the Toho Gakuen College Music Department. The College of Music was a pioneer in offering university-level degrees in music in Japan. In 1995 the Toho Orchestra Academy was established in Toyama and in 1999 opened the Toho Gakuen Graduate School, which offers postgraduate degrees.

Studies
Through its high school, college and graduate school, Toho Gakuen offers studies from preparatory diplomas to master's degrees in all orchestral instruments, piano, composition, conducting and musicology.

Notable staff members

 * Hiroshi Wakasugi, conductor
 * Hitomi Kaneko, composer

Notable alumni

 * Seiji Ozawa, conductor
 * Kazuyoshi Akiyama, conductor,
 * Tadaaki Otaka, conductor
 * Hiroko Nakamura, pianist
 * Tōru Yasunaga, violinist
 * Koichiro Harada, founding member of the Tokyo String Quartet
 * Sadao Harada, founding member of the Tokyo String Quartet
 * Kazuhide Isomura, founding member of the Tokyo String Quartet
 * Yoshiko Nakura, founding member of the Tokyo String Quartet
 * Akiko Suwanai, violinist
 * Nobuko Imai, violist
 * Mayuko Kamio, violinist
 * František Brikcius, cellist
 * David Currie, conductor
 * Aimi Kobayashi, pianist
 * Kokia, singer, composer
 * Yukie Nishimura, pianist
 * Yoko Nozaki, pianist
 * Eiji Oue, conductor.
 * Heiichiro Ohyama, conductor
 * Yūji Takahashi, composer, arranger, and pianist


 * Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, cellist and later President of Toho Gakuen School of Music
 * Keiko Abe, Marimbist, Composer, Educator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_Abe