Contact: Masa Kagawa
Email: mkagawa@jcfnc.org
February 18, 2010


 The Japanese Choral Federation of Northern California (a.k.a. JCFNC) announced that it will be sponsoring U.S.-Japan (Nichibei) Choral Festival on Friday, April 9th, 2010 at 8 p.m. at War Memorial Hall, Herbst Theatre, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. The event will be hosted by the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival committee. Admission is $20. Tickets are available for sale at the City Box Office. More information is available by contacting JCFNC at info@jcfnc.org or fax to (636)773-8866 or visit us at http://jcfnc.org.

 In this performance, renown Japanese conductor Kouji Toyama will be conducting the Odawara Male Chorus and several other well-known choral groups from Japan. Japanese choral groups from the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California will perform with them. Mr. Toyama is an honor member of Japan Choral Association in Tokyo, Japan.

 Mr. Toyama has taught at Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku) for many years. While teaching there, he was a member of Fujiwara Kagekidan, a leading opera group in Japan with 76 years of history. As a member, he performed in many operas as a soloist. He has also been actively involved in many choral organizations in Japan, including board president for the Tokyo Choral Association. Mr. Toyama has taught at several universities and continues to promote music through education. He has received an award from the Japanese Ministry of Education in 1992. He has been the music director and conductor for Odawara Male Chorus since 1996, and has also been involved with other choir groups in the Tokyo area. Mr. Toyama has spent more than one year preparing for the  U.S.-Japan Choral Festival in San Francisco with his vision of bridging the two countries through music.

About Japanese Choral Federation of Northern California (JCFNC)
In May 2005, a renown Japanese male choir group visited the United States and performed in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. For their San Francisco performance, they were joined by several groups from Northern California on the same stage and sang Furusato No Shiki (Four seasons). This successful San Francisco performance brought a vision that one day they would again sing together on the big stage. In July, 2007, a federation of Japanese choral groups established JCFNC. Currently the federation consists of six Japanese choral groups, two from the South Bay, three from San Francisco and one from Sacramento. JCFNC has held annual concerts for their own for past three years.