Aliya Vodovozova, flute (PMF 2017, 18)
Fernando José Martínez Zavala, oboe (PMF 2017, 19)
Liana Leßmann, clarinet (PMF 2017, 18)
Hana Hasegawa, bassoon (PMF 2023)
Haeree Yoo, horn (PMF 2017)

1st prize winners of the “Ton & Erklärung 2021” (Sound & Explanation) Competition of the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy, 2nd prize winners of the “Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition 2019” in Copenhagen, and winners of both 2nd Prize and the Audience Award in the 2024 international ARD Music Competition, the Pacific Quintet celebrated their debut concert in the Chamber Music Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin in 2019.

The five musicians met in 2017 at the Pacific Music Festival, founded by Leonard Bernstein in Sapporo. Inspired by the passionate attention to music, the intercultural exchange, and the respectful company with each other at the festival, they decided to carry Bernstein’s spirit to Europe and form the Pacific Quintet in Berlin. Because its members hail from Honduras, Japan, Ukraine/Türkiye, South Korea, and Germany, the quintet considers tolerance and inclusion to be of the utmost importance. Taking inspiration from the words of Leonard Bernstein as well – “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before" – they strive to use music as a means of communication in order to make their wealth of different cultures, origins, and traditions visible to all, amidst a society in which fear of the foreign and blanket condemnation based on stereotypes are gaining more relevance again.

In addition to their dedication to chamber music, the musicians are currently performing with orchestras including the WDR-Sinfonieorchester, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Bremer Philharmoniker, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.

The members of the Pacific Quintet studied at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, the Hochschule für Musik “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig, and the Karajan-Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Renowned artists such as Christian Wetzel, Nick Deutsch, Christian-Friedrich Dallmann, and Wenzel Fuchs have supported the ensemble with their guidance. Since 2020, the Pacific Quintet has studied chamber music with Martin Spangenberg at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.

This is their second appearance at PMF as a quintet since 2023. At PMF 2025, festival alumna Hana Hasegawa of the Bamberger Symphoniker will serve as the quintet's bassoonist.