Announcement of the winners of the 31rd (2023) Akio Watanabe Music Foundation Music Award and Special Award
31rd (2023) Watanabe Akio Music Foundation Music Award and Special Award Recipient
◆Music Awards None
◆Special Award: Masaki Tanaka
◆Special Award: Masaki Tanaka
[Biography]
Born in Sapporo City, she began working on the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra's stage operations after graduating from high school and officially joined in April 1995. After serving as librarian, she became stage manager and librarian in January 2008, and stage manager in October of the same year. She led many successful performances, including the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra's 511th Regular Concert Special Feature: Britten/Opera "Peter Grimes" held in September 2008, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra's 50th Anniversary European Tour in 2011, and the 2015 Taiwan Tour. Her cheerful, attentive personality, sincere dedication, and dedication to always striving to create the best possible environment earned her the love of many musicians and the trust of arts organizations such as opera and ballet. Despite battling illness, she continued to support the orchestra's performances until the end of last year. She passed away on February 3, 2023, at the age of 57.
[Reason for award]
Masaki Tanaka joined the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra as its librarian in 1995. From the beginning, his gentle and witty personality earned him the complete trust of the orchestra's musicians. Gradually, he began providing support not only for sheet music but also for performances, and in 2008, he was appointed stage manager. Since then, he has demonstrated exceptional talent, not only in pre-performance preparations and stage setting, ensuring smooth progress from rehearsals to concerts, but also in his dedicated support of easing tension backstage and allowing performers to concentrate on their performances with peace of mind. He always led the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra's performance activities in a cheerful and joyful manner. Even after falling ill, he continued to work tirelessly, but sadly passed away in February 2023 at the age of 57. We offer our deepest condolences and gratitude to Mr. Tanaka, and we would like to present the Watanabe Akio Music Foundation Special Award to him in memory of his achievements.
List of Watanabe Akeo Music Fund Awardees
1st (1993) Music Award: Kazushi Ono Special Award: Sennosuke Enmei
2nd (1994) Music Award: Junichi Hirokami Special Award: Chiaki Murakawa
3rd (1995) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Takashi Ogawa, Seizo Suzuki, Jun Tanaka
4th (1996) Music Award: Ken Takaseki Special Award: No recipient
5th (1997) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Keizo Saji
6th (1998) Music Award: Kim Hong-jae Special Award: Ishimaru Hiroshi
7th (1999) Music Award: Ryusuke Numajiri Special Award: Chiyoshige Matsubara
8th (2000) Music Award: Naoto Otomo Special Award: Minoru Nagaoka, Toshiya Eto
9th (2001) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: No recipients
10th (2002) Music Award: Tatsuya Shimono, Yukio Fujioka Special Award: Shoji Uehara
11th (2003) Music Award: Yutaka Sado Special Award: Masaharu Watanabe, Naozumi Yamamoto
12th (2004) Music Award: Tetsuro Saka Special Award: Akira Miyoshi
13th (2005) Music Award: Norichika Iimori Special Award: Tsuzo Kusakari
14th (2006) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Shigeto Kanayama, Hiroshi Okawauchi
15th (2007) Music Award: Toshiyuki Ueoka Special Award: Shoji Onodera, Japan Philharmonic Kyushu Performance Liaison Committee (Group)
16th (2008) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Hiroyuki Iwaki
17th (2009) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Jean Fournet, Affinis Cultural Foundation
18th (2010) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Hiroshi Wakasugi, Museum of Modern Japanese Music
19th (2011) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Seiji Ozawa Special Support: Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra
20th (2012) Music Award: Kazuki Yamada Special Award: Yasuo Nakafuji
21st (2013) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Nagata Ho
22nd (2014) Music Award: No winner Special Award: Kodama Koji
23rd (2015) Music Award: Kentaro Kawase Special Award: Hubert Soudant, Kazuyoshi Akiyama
24th (2016) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Alexander Lazarev, Shinichiro Ikebe, Michiyoshi Inoue
25th (2017) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Yuzo Toyama, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi
26th (2018) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Eliahu Inbal
27th (2019) Music Award: No winners Special Award: Honna Tetsuji, Yamada Masayuki
28th (2020) Music Award: Nodoka Okisawa Special Award: Yasuhisa Toyoda
29th (2021) Music Award: Masato Suzuki and Keitaro Harada Special Award: No recipients
30th (2022) Music Award: Gen Ota Special Award: Taijiro Iimori
31st (2023) Music Award: No recipients Special Award: Masaki Tanaka
