Pacific Music Festival Explained

The Pacific Music Festival (PMF) is an international classical music festival held annually in Sapporo, Japan. It was founded in 1990 by Leonard Bernstein, along with the London Symphony Orchestra, and 123 young musicians from 18 countries. The original artistic directors were Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas.^[1]

History

2018 / 29th

7 Jul (Sat) - 1 August (Wed) for 26 days

2017 / 28th

8 July - 1 August

Artists^[2]

Conductors

Artistic Directors

• Leonard Bernstein (1990)
• Michael Tilson Thomas (1990–2000)
• Christoph Eschenbach (1991, 93-98)
• Charles Dutoit (2000–02)
• Fabio Luisi (2010–12)^{[3] [4] [5]}
• Valery Gergiev (2015–2019)^[6]

Principal Conductors

• Marin Alsop (1990, 2019)
• Bernard Haitink (2003)
• Valery Gergiev (2004, 06)
• Nello Santi (2005)
• Riccardo Muti (2007)
• Fabio Luisi (2008)
• Jun Märkl (2013, 15, 17)^{[7] [8]}
• John Axelrod (2016, 18)^{[9] [10]}
• Lahav Shani (2022)

Guest Conductors

• Edo de Waart (2003)
• Fabio Luisi (2004)
• Jun Märkl (2005, 08)
• Yakov Kreizberg (2006)
• Philippe Jordan (2007)
• Andrey Boreyko (2007)
• Tadaaki Otaka (2008)
• Xian Zhang (2009)
• Krzysztof Urbański (2011)
• Eivind Gullberg Jensen (2012)
• Alexander Vedernikov (2013)
• Andris Poga (2015)
• Edwin Outwater (2018)

Faculty

Orchestra (2019 season)^[11]

Violin

• Rainer Küchl / former concertmaster of the Wiener Phiharmoniker
• Daniel Froschauer / Wiener Philharmoniker
• David Chan / Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
• Stephen Rose / Cleveland Orchestra

Viola

• Heinrich Koll / former principal of the Wiener Philharmoniker
• Daniel Foster / National Symphony Orchestra

Cello

• Stefan Gartmayer / Wiener Philharmoniker
• Rafael Figueroa / Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Double Bass

• Michael Bladerer / Wiener Philharmoniker
• Alexander Hanna / Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Flute

• Andreas Blau / former principal of the Berliner Philharmoniker
• Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Oboe

• Andreas Wittmann / Berliner Philharmoniker
• Eugene Izotov / San Francisco Symphony

Clarinet

• Alexander Bader / Berliner Philharmoniker
• Stephen Williamson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Bassoon

• Stefan Schweigert / Berliner Philharmoniker
• Daniel Matsukawa / Philadelphia Orchestra

Horn

• Sarah Willis / Berliner Philharmoniker
• William Caballero / Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Trumpet

• Tamás Velenczei / Berliner Philharmoniker
• Mark J. Inouye / San Francisco Symphony

Trombone

• Jesper Busk Sørensen / Berliner Philharmoniker
• Denson Paul Pollard / Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Percussion

• Cynthia Yeh / Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Timpani

• David Herbert / Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Harp

• Ladislav Papp / Wiener Staatsoper
• Mariko Anraku / Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Vocal Academy (2019 season)

• Gabriella Tucci

Conducting Academy

• Leonard Bernstein (1990)
• Fabio Luisi (2010–12)
• Andris Poga (2015)
• John Axelrod (2016)
• Jun Märkl (2017)

External links

• PMF Official Website

Notes and References

1. New York Times Bernstein and Thomas Head New Pacific Music Festival Jan 19, 1990... Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas are to be the artistic directors of the first Pacific Music Festival, a $7 million event to be held in Sapporo.
2. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF-20 Years. 2009. Sapporo, Japan.
3. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2010 Official Report. 2010. Sapporo, Japan.
4. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2011 Official Report. 2011. Sapporo, Japan.
5. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2012 Official Report. 2012. Sapporo, Japan.
6. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2015 Official Report. 2015. Sapporo, Japan.
7. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2013 Official Report. 2013. Sapporo, Japan.
8. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2017 Official Report. 2017. Sapporo, Japan.
9. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2016 Official Report. 2016. Sapporo, Japan.
10. Book: Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee. PMF 2018 Official Report. 2018. Sapporo, Japan.
11. Web site: Artists. Pacific Music Festival.