The First Asian Orchestra Festival took place in Fukuoka between August 18 and August 21 in Fukuoka (Japan). It was also the 39th Amateur Orchestra Festival organized by the Japan Amateur Orchestra Federation (JAO)
It was a large gathering of musicians from all over Japan (about 300 adults and 80 youth) as well as from many parts of Asia(120 adults and 40 youth. Attendance was not limited to active participants to the final concert but included coaches, teachers, representatives of many countries. Those representatives attended meetings organized by NPO WFAO and WFAO and the rich information they provided about their activities in their respective countries allowed everyone to grasp the actual situation of amateur orchestras in the countries they represented. That information is essential to analyze and plan both NPO WFAO and WFAO future activities.

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A　Adult orchestra

Conductor: Masahiro Izaki　Stravinsky “Petrouchka” (1911 edition)

Ｂ　Adult orchestra

Conducto Shinji Moriguchi Mahler “Das Lied von der Erde”

Youth orchestra

Conductor :Shigeo Genda Khachaturian Suite “Masquerade”

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ＮＰＯ　ＷＦＡＯ meeting’s representatives

Belgium：　Alex Van Beveren 　Shanghai：　Xu Xin，Wang Wei 　 India：　Freddy Dinshaw
Iraq：　Zuhar Mhmed　　Korea：　Park Han Na, Ryu Jaejung, Park Kyo Myung, Cho Youg Hoon,
Philipinnes：　Martinez Edna　　Singapore：　Olive Kan　　
Taiwan：　Chang Chia Wai , Yamaji Joe, Chang Si Lin　　
Japan：　Ashiki, Colon, Hiramatsu, Suzuki, Morishita, Sudo, Ito，Shiｍｏｙａ, Onoda, Ishiｂashi, Mori
Thanks to the Fukuoka ＮPO WFAO meetings new links were established with countries with which we had previously very little or no contact at all. Of particular interest was the illuminating exposition made by Miss Zuhar about the Iraq youth orchestra which was set up and is financed by its own youthful members. That orchestra uses the Internet to gather its players.

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The exposition of Mr. Freddy Jinshaw was also of great interest. The orchestra he represented celebrates next year its 50th anniversary and the players at seven o’clock in the morning, before going to work. The conclusion of those interesting expositions was that the Asian region is infull expansion and that this expansion is not limited to economic aspects butincludes the expansion of amateur orchestral activities. As an example, both Taiwan and Korea have now many active amateur orchestras.
Youth orchestras have already a long history in Singapore and Shanghai, who sponserd last year’s Festival during the World Expo also has an active youth symphonic orchestra.The representatives were also very interested in hearing about the University Orchestras and Chamber Orchestra Groups in the Philippines.
　　Besides the unique occasion of learning about orchestral activities in other Asian Countries, the meetings allowed the participants to make new contacts, to deepen older ones and to plan for the Second Asian Orchestra Festival in other countries, namely, Korea as a first choice for the next Festival. More that 50 participants from Korea attended the Fukuoka Festival.

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The WFAO Asia meeting was attended by Mr. Kamino, president and initiated by welcome greetings by Mr. Alex Van Beveren as European representative. That was followed by the representative’s expositions and by a report on NPO WFAO’s activities by Mrs. Morishita. The reports were illustrated by Power Point presentations on a large screen. After that a joint message which follows was adopted and signed by the representatives present at the meeting．That message is available in Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese.A subsequent general meeting was attended by Princess Takamado and by the Director General of Cultural Affairs.Both had warm words of encouragement for our activities for which all were very grateful.
Participants from abroad were taken to a sightseeing tour to the Dazaifu Tenmanguu temple to give them a taste of Japaneseculture. The weather was splendid and all of them enjoyed theoccasion as well as the reception party where all sang together in Japanese.

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More than one third of the youthful participants were from foreign countries. That means that during rehearsals it was possible to see youth from different countries trying to overcome the language barriers but ultimately communication relied directly on music.
　During the exchange meeting Miss Zuhar explained how the orchestras were created inside Iraq and while she was speaking they tried their hands at traditional Japanese games such as Kendama and Origami. This allowed all of them to deepen their sense of togetherness.
　Not only did the final concert allow everyone to be amazed by the high level of musicianship exhibited by Asian youth but this revelation was accompanied by a heart-warning sense of togetherness that broke all racial and language barriers in an absolutely wonderful manner.

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The program of the Festival Concert included very difficult works and it was remarkable to hear the quality of the music they achieved in after only two days of rehearsals. It allowed all of us to confirm once more that music transcends all language, cultural, racial and national barriers to become a wonderful tool of common understanding. After returning to their own countries many participants let us know how happy and deep the experience at the Festival had been and their intense desire to come back to Japan. We are already preparing some new occasions to do music together at both the World Orchestra Festival to be held in Shizuoka next year and the Second Asian Festival that we hope to celebrate in Korea the following year. We are deeply grateful for the positive reactions we have received from foreign participants at the Fukuoka Festival and we are keen to express NPO WFAO’s staff gratitude for the warm feelings and encouragement you all provided

WFAO Asian Meeting Joint declaration

1. We wish to thank the Fukuoka Citizens Orchestra for organizing the First Asian Amateur Orchestra Festival in Fukuoka. The festival was organized to widen our horizon and actions throughout the Asian region.

2. As we are headed towards a new Asian era, we heard the presentations of the representatives of the different countries and gathered valuable information regarding the amateur orchestras activities in each country. That information will help us deepen our mutual understanding and cultural exchanges.

3. As Asia is becoming more important on the world scene, this Festival will help us love each other’s cultures and hopefully contribute to world peace. We declare our determination to continue to organize such festivals in the future.

4. According to this declaration, we express our desire to tighten the network between Asian countries and we consider this festival an important step forward. We have also decided to form and establish the “Asian Festival Organizing Committee” in order to promote future festivals