During my stay in Japan, after my participation in the 13th International Flutists Festival & 1st World Flute Congress in Tokyo, i also visited the company where my favorite flutes are manufactured.

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Many thanks to my friend Shoichi Hasegawa who helped me with the logistics and made my life easier during the whole stay.

Tags: muramatsu, tokyo, flute, factory, 2007

	The entire event was organized by the Japanese flutist society in cooperation with the following institutions: Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music, Ueno-Gakuen University, Kyu-Sougakudou, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and Tokyo National Museum & Kaneiji Temple

[ Pictures slideshow.. ]

The Japanese flutist society was founded in 1966, it has 11 000 members, 2500 active. There is a festival every two years, including competitions and summer schools. The society also publishes its own newspaper every two months. Flute players from Europe, America and Asia featured at the festival and the congress. A remarkably large number of flute pieces were performed.

There were numerous recitals, workshops, flute orchestra concerts, lectures, a competition with the following award winners: Mayu Izumi (1st prize), Riria Niimura (tied at 2nd prize), Seiya Ueno (tied at 2nd prize) and of course, an exposition of instruments and accessories.

[ download the full program ]

The Japanese audience was very interested in all of the programs, so that all of the concert and lecture halls were full, despite the fact that several events took place at the same time.
It was really fascinating to see so many flutists together!
The organizers had a great idea to include chamber pieces in the concert programs, featuring both Japanese and guest flutists. This allowed us to know each other better and form friendships and professional liaison.

The festival was made especially significant by the long awaited 1st flutist world congress which was very carefully prepared by the Japanese flutists society.
The theme of the congress was: For all the music and flute lovers, all over the world.
Many artists took part in the discussion: Andras Adorjan, Jongbea Ahn, Robert Aitken, Petri Alanko, Akira Aoki, William Bennett, Janet Ferguson, Pascal Gresset, Yoon Hyeri, Jeffrey Khaner, Chang-Kook Kim, Maxence Larrieu, Shoichi Minegishi, Renata Penezic, Felix Renggli, Chen Sanqing, Yasukazu Uemura and Henrik Wiese.
The Japanese flutist society sent a questionnaire to many flutists' organizations and societies, with inquiries concerning organization and structure, and also their problems and/or successes. They focused especially on the proposals about the improvement and development of each of the societies. All the flutists' organizations that took part in the poll, expressed a wish for a better connection to all similar institutions around the world. It was, therefore, concluded that a world flutist society should be founded with the following objectives:

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1. Improving the quality and speed of information exchange
2. Including more active young members
3. Organizing workshops, concerts, and meetings of flutists
4. Finding ways to finance international projects
5. Making flute more popular
6. Creating a web platform


Participation in such a great event was very inspiring for me and it enabled Croatia to take an active part from the very beginning of the formation of the world flutist organization. I am therefore very grateful to the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, The City Culture Department, The Ministry of Culture and The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports for their trust and financial support in the entire project.

Tags: tokyo, 2007, flute, world, concert, collaboration, convention