members

Meet the Orchestra

In October 2005, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (HPAC Orchestra) began its long-awaited inaugural season. This new orchestra is the center of the new Hyogo Performing Arts Center (HPAC), a symbol of the cultural rebirth of the Hanshin-Awaji region devastated by the 1995 earthquake. Performances cover a broad repertoire, including chamber music, large-scale orchestral works, opera, and ballet. In addition, the orchestra engages in a wide range of community outreach activities.
Under the leadership of internationally renowned conductor Maestro Yutaka Sado, HPAC Orchestra serves as a final training ground for professional-level musicians from around the world. The orchestra’s core membership comprises 48 young professional musicians up to 35 years of age, and their term up to three years. Members were selected through competitive auditions held regularly in Japan, Europe and North America. Orchestra members gain invaluable experience performing with world-class conductors and soloists, and working with top-level coaches. During the contracted period, the members are encouraged to participate in auditions and competitions. Many members have received tenured positions at various orchestras worldwide, such as Munich Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Tokyo Symphony and Kyoto Symphony Orchestra.

Conductor & Artistic Director

Yutaka Sado

Yutaka Sado Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts and studied under the late Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, and others. He won the Besançon Conductiong Competition in 1989, and the 1st Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem International Conducting Competition in 1995. He has made numerous guest appearances with Europe’s top orchestras, including Orchestre de Paris, Deutsches Symphonie-orchester Berlin, WDR Symphony orchestra Cologne, Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, and North German Radio Symphony Orchestre (currently named as NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra). He worked as Music Director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Austria’s leading orchestra with a history of over 110 years, for 10 years until June 2025, after which he became the orchestra’s honorary conductor. He has performed many operas overseas, including Madama Butterfly at the Oranje Festival (performed by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande), Peter Grimes, Carmen and Le nozze di Figaro at Teatro Regio in Turin. In Japan, he is Artistic Director of Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Music Director of the New Japan Philharmonic and Principal Conductor of the Siena Wind Orchestra, and has released many CDs, the latest being his 23rd CD as conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Mahler: Symphony No.8 (released in May 2026). His publications include How I Became a Conductor (Shincho Bunko), and A Life of Waving Sticks: Conductors Sculpt Time (PHP Bunko/Shinsho). He has received numerous awards, including the Idemitsu Music Award (1991), the Montblanc International Cultural Award (2003), the Akio Watanabe Music Foundation Music Award (2003), the Tokiko Iwatani Award (2014), the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Commendation (2024), and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Commendation (2025).
Yutaka Sado’s web site:http://yutaka-sado.meetsfan.jp

Greeting from Yutaka Sado

Concertmaster

Three specialists in orchestra, opera, and chamber music lead this orchestra as concertmasters.

Masaaki Tanokura

After graduating from the Music High School attached to the Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, Masaaki Tanokura entered the university. He then earned a scholarship to study abroad at the Juilliard School in New York and earned his bachelor’s degree.
He won the 2nd prize in the Japanese Music Competition and the 6th Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in 2000. He has won many well-known competitions and won top prizes.
He became the concertmaster of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra in 2004 (retired in March 2014). He has been the Concertmaster of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra since April 2012 and the Chief Concertmaster of the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra since April 2014. From September 2019, he was appointed as the concertmaster of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been nominated as a concertmaster by domestic orchestras and conductors, and his confidence is very strong.
He is currently a part-time lecturer at Kyoto Municipal Kyoto Horikawa Music High School.

Yasushi Toyoshima

He studied under Toshiya Eto and Angela Eto at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1986 he was appointed principal concertmaster for the New Japan Philharmonic at the age of twenty-two. He made his recital debut as a soloist at Suntory Hall in 1988, and after that has performed together with the many Japanese and international orchestras including the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bashmet & the Moscow Soloists, the London Mozart Orchestra. He was the recipient of the Muramatsu Prize and the first Idemitsu Prize in 1991 and the Cultural and Education Ministry’s New Artist of the Year Award in 1992 and the Hyogo Cultural Award in 2013. He is a professor at Kyoto City University of Arts, and also lectures at Toho Gakuen University and Graduate School.

Section Advisors

An experienced musician selected upon the recommendation of the Artistic Director to provide advice to core members of the PAC Orchestra through performance coaching, masterclasses, and mock auditions.

Simon PolezhayevDouble Bass

Born in Moscow, Russia. His family immigrated to the UnitedStates when he was 3 years old. A recipient of the Jerome L.Greene Fellowship, he received his B.M. and M.M. degrees from TheJuilliard School studying under Eugene Levinson, Principal Double Bass of the New York Philharmonic. Winner of the 2011 Juilliard ConcertoCompetition, he was awarded the opportunity to perform theDittersdorf Double Bass Concerto with the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. In 2013, Simon was accepted into the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra. He has since performed as Guest Principal with The NHK Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and The Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. Since 2016, Simon is Principal Double Bass of the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra.

Robert BorsosClarinet

Born in Pančevo, Serbia. After studying at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, he graduated with highest honors from the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria, in 2003. He studied with Bela Kovacs and Gerald Pachinger. While still a student, he performed as a guest with the Belgrade Symphony Orchestra, Graz Symphony Orchestra, and Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He has won numerous prizes, including top honors at music competitions inBelgrade and Novi Sad. A former member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, he is currently a principal player with Ensemble of Tokyo and the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ottaviano CristofoliTrumpet

Born in Udine, Italy. After performing extensively in Europe,he moved to the United States, where he furthered his studies with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s brass section. In 2008, he joined the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, and the following year joined the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, where he currently serves as Solo Trumpet. Since 2016, he has been a member of Samurai Brass. In 2019, he founded the international music academy “Music System,” where he serves as Artistic Director and is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musicians. Hehas released three solo albums to date. His latest recording,Vivaldi (arr. Corvini): The Four Seasons for Solo Trumpet andString Ensemble, in which he performs the entire Four Seasons as trumpet soloist, has received widespread acclaim.

Core Members

The core members are professionals, mainly composed of young musicians under the age of 35. We are recruiting from all over the world including Japan, Asia, Europe and America. Through subscription concerts, chamber music, opera, ballet and other performances, we work on the repertoire of orchestras from baroque to modern times for up to three years.

Violin

Taichi Arakawa
Kokoro Imagawa
Naxin Yin
Satori Otsuka
Asako Kato
Hiroyuki Kato
Benjamin Kremer
Shiyori Tanaka
Andre Daniel
Dulguunzaya Batbayar
Kano Hayakawa
June Hitsumoto
Marena Miki
Erika Moriwaki
Jia-Wen Lin

Viola

Tzu-Chieh Kan
John Harry Clark
Yusei Tazaki
Ayami Tsuge
Gene Hotta

Cello

Shoko Unryu
Saki Okada
George Jennings
Mei Hotta

Contrabass

Sena Ishii
Takehiro Takayama
Shunsuke Tani
Hitomi Numano

Flute

Milano Suzuki
Heeran Seong

Oboe

Shinsuke Inoue
Chiara Rackerby

Clarinet

Sawako Ushimado
Linsa Kim

Bassoon

Takuma Onishi
Oisin Nishikawa

Horn

Nicholas Ivy
Kanata Unane

Trumpet

Uta Saito
Haruki Minagawa

Trombone

Stefan Benčić

Bass Trombone

Reo Yamada

Timpani & Percussion

Zoe Beyler

Resident Players

Players who are selected by audition every season and participate in various performances with the core members of the PAC orchestra throughout the year.