Hiroyuki Iwaki

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Hiroyuki Iwaki AO (岩城宏之, Iwaki Hiroyuki^?) (6 September 1932–13 June 2006) was a Japanese conductor and percussionist.

Iwaki was born in Tokyo. He made his conducting debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 1956, and was later made a permanent guest conductor of that orchestra. He first conducted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) on a 1973 Australian tour, and was Chief Conductor of the MSO for a record term of 15 years (1974-89), during which time he took the orchestra on two tours of Japan. In 1990 he was appointed the orchestra's Conductor Laureate.

He died in Japan.

[edit] Honours

For his contribution to Australian musical life, he was appointed an honorary Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in 1985, which was later upgraded to Officer status (AO).
Monash University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1986, and in 1991 appointed him their first Fellow of the Faculty of Arts.
In 1990 he was made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
In 1995 the ABC named its Southbank studio in Melbourne the Iwaki Auditorium.
Japan awarded him the medal of Honour with Purple Ribbon in 1996.