Naomi Furihata

Patron of TMT

Naomi’s international and diverse career as arts administrator and event producer spans 40 years. Born in Tokyo, she trained as a pianist and immersed herself in the arts industry through her love of music.

She soon embarked on a career working for the arts with emphasis on charity and cultural exchange events in Japan, including the UNICEF World Philharmonic Orchestra chaired by the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Audrey Hepburn. Other projects included the tour of Japan and Hong Kong for the Live Under the Sky Music Festival and the Mt Fuji/Blue Note Jazz Festival.

Her experiences took her to London to work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and projects included a tour of Japan with Aled Jones and the Vienna Boys’ Choir and further cultural exchange programmes which included the Japanese Dance and Drum Troupe, Kikuno-kai. Her debut as producer in the UK was promoting sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar’s UK tour with the Asian Music Circuit to a sold out audience at the Royal Festival Hall.

She headed the artist management department for London Musicians Ltd and represented numerous conductors, composers, arrangers and orchestrators and, included orchestra management mainly for Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s productions in London’s West End.

Highlights in her career have included the Tokyo Olympics, the Royal Variety Shows, All the Queen’s Horses at Windsor and the Golden Jubilee Celebrations for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Ian Fleming Centenary at the London Palladium for the British Heart Foundation UK, Elizabeth Taylor Celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall for the Red Hot AIDS Charitable Trust and Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Richard Rogers Centenary at the London Palladium for Nerve Tumours UK, and the 1 st Laureus World Sports Award Ceremony in Nice with Nelson Mandela, Patron.

Advocating to give young people the opportunity to perform and promoting the benefits of the arts to build their confidence has been an integral part of her career. While she was the head of the vocal department for the Marlow Festival of Music & Drama and appointed as the Co-Chair of the Festival, she supported hundreds of young performers. Her relationship with the National Youth Music Theatre spans nearly three decades. First as tour manager overseeing tours to SE Asia and New York and as event manager co-ordinating the 20 th Anniversary Gala at the Palace Theatre and the 40 th Anniversary Gala at the Adelphi Theatre. She was appointed trustee of NYMT in 2023.

Naomi resides in the UK, married to Joseph Atkins, trumpet player in the BBC Symphony Orchestra and they have two children.