The Saito Kinen Orchestra was formed in 1984 by conductors Seiji Ozawa and Kazuyoshi Akiyama, assembling Japanese musicians from around the world for memorial concerts marking the tenth anniversary of the death of pedagogue Hideo Saito, a co-founder of the Toho Gakuen School of Music and mentor to both conductors. In 1992 the ensemble was formalized under the Saito Kinen Foundation with an annual festival based in Matsumoto, Japan (now the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival). The orchestra, which reassembles annually rather than existing as a permanent body, began touring Europe in 1987 and appeared at the Salzburg Festival in 1990, recording major works by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler for Philips and Sony.

Ranked among the world’s finest orchestras (19th globally by Gramophone in 2008), the Saito Kinen Orchestra is notable for preserving and internationalizing Hideo Saito’s pedagogical legacy through an annually reconvened ensemble of top Japanese musicians.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saito_Kinen_Orchestra