男声合唱団 銀河
Male Choir "Ginga"
Male Choir “Ginga” was formed in 2007 by Masatoshi Amakawa, our permanent conductor, and his
companion.
Since formed, we have achieved numbers of awards in choral competition and events, including Gold Prizes
at the Hyogo Vocal Ensemble Contest in 2012 and 2022 etc. We have actively participated in local choral
events, such as "PRAY FROM KOBE" and "Chorus Messe".
In our regular concert, we have performed with various and novel forms of accompaniments such as the
guitar, percussion, orchestra, jazz band, electric organ etc., and also proactively asked the composers to create
new works and premiered them, which were received lots of favorable reviews
every time.
We have further planned and performed the musical performances, Les
Miserables in 2013 and The Phantom of the Opera in 2016, the joint concert
"SING FORWARD" in Hokkaido in 2016 etc. together with other members.
During the pandemic of Covid-19, “Home Recording Virtual Choir” project has
been launched and our created works have been posted on YouTube
continuously, which were achieved remarkable awards including First Prize of
Remote Choir Competition 2020 in Kanagawa and First Prize of “Gassho no
Asobiba (Chorus Playground)” organized by Avex Entertainment etc.
Under our motto "Create the-out-of-box musical works of temporal art
proactively by using male choir as a tool", our challenge has never stopped
Masatoshi Amakawa
Masatoshi Amakawa was born in Osaka. While a student of Kobe University, he conducted Kobe Univ. Mixed Chorus “Apollon” and music club of Mikunigaoka High School. After graduation, Masatoshi Amakawa has acted aggressively in the choir world while working as an office worker, and achieved numbers of awards in competitions or events, which are Gold Prize and Hyogo Arts & Culture Association Prize at Hyogo Vocal Ensemble Contest etc, by leading his conducted groups.
His specialized choral performance comes with various forms of accompaniments such as orchestra and rock’n roll band, and also he has conducted musicals including Les Miserables in 2013 and The Phantom of the Opera in 2016, both of which were received much favorable reviews.
Masatoshi Amakawa has worked with young composers such as Masaya Ishiwaka, Noboru Kitagawa and Taro Makido and premiered their new works ever. Recently, his activities have further expanded to adjudicate in the competitions and serve the lectures at workshops etc.
During the current pandemic of Covid-19, Masatoshi Amakawa has focused on virtual chorus activities and achieved remarkable results including the First Prize of Remote Choir Competition 2020 in Kanagawa, the First Prize of “Gasho no Asobiba (Chorus Playground)” organized by Avex Entertainment and the First Jury Prize of 2nd Tele-Chorus Competition in 2021.
Permanent conductor of Male Choir “Ginga”, conductor of Choir “Kaede” and conductor of Senboku Mixed Choir. Also, chief staff of Kansai Choral Association, chief staff of Hyogo Choral Association, vice chairman of Sakai Choral Association and member of chorus group “ONGAKUJU”. Studied technical conducting and choral teaching under Yoshio Saida.
