• Welcome to CDO HS Orchestra Page. My name is Toru Tagawa, and I have been the orchestra director at this school since 2008.

    Our website is  cdoorchestra.com  

    Mr. Tagawa, from Hiroshima, Japan, started playing the violin at age 6, and joined the Kurashiki Junior Philharmonic Orchestra at age 9. He received his Violin Performance degrees from the University of Tulsa (BM) and Florida State University (MM), and a Music Education degree (MME) from the University of Arizona. His main violin teachers include Steven Moeckel, Gary Kosloski, Eliot Chapo, Derry Deane, and Mikio Ejima.

    Mr. Tagawa is the Music Director and Conductor of the Tucson Repertory Orchestra, Foothills Phil, Artistic Director of the Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra. With Amphi School district, he is the Orchestra Director at Canyon del Oro High School, Cross Middle School and Harelson Elementary School. His conducting teachers include Thomas Cockrell, Charles Bontrager, Jung-Ho Pak, and Maurice Peress. Toru made his debut at Carnegie Hall in March, 2017.

    An active violinist, he performs with the Tucson Symphony, Tucson Pops, Arizona Opera Orchestras, and has played with National Repertory (CO), Shreveport (LA), Arkansas, Tallahassee (FL), AIMS (Austria), Hiroshima (Japan), and Vancouver (Canada) Symphony Orchestras. Toru is the Past-President of the American String Teachers Association of Arizona.