PMF 2023

Krzysztof Urbański's first appearance at PMF 2011 as Guest Conductor left a powerful impression, and since then his conducting career has steadily advanced, making guest appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, and taking on the roles of Music Director and Principal Conductor of leading orchestras in Europe and the United States, as well as in Japan with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. And now he makes his return to PMF!

His talent as a conductor attracted attention from the beginning of his career, and at the 2015 Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, his fiery, passionate conducting impressed the orchestra and audience alike; he was chosen by close associates of Leonard Bernstein including Christoph Eschenbach and Zubin Mehta, and by Bernstein’s daughter Jamie, to be the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award.

His PMF 2023 program reflects timeless favorites - Bernstein's essential Candide Overture, Grieg's Piano Concerto with pianist Jan Lisiecki, himself a recipient of Leonard Bernstein Award in 2013, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5. This program is not to be missed!

The PMF Link Up Concert has been presented since 2013, with a curriculum based on the Carnegie Weil Music Institute’s program in New York, adapted for 6th graders in Sapporo. This year’s program offers 6th graders the invaluable opportunity to hear the music they prepared in their music classes performed by the PMF Orchestra, and to perform along with them.

Composer/pianist Masanori Kato will give a fun music lecture designed for both children* and adults at the PMF Classical Lab♪, presenting various facets of classical music in a casual style. 　*elementary-age children and older

This year’s PMF Open Masterclasses feature PMF faculty teaching Academy members – onstage! Top orchestra players of the world’s leading orchestras offer instruction on technique and interpretation of chamber and solo repertoire. Enjoy the rare chance to observe the palpable change in the Academy members’ performance as they instantly faculty advice!

As the PMF Host City Orchestra, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra will perform with their Resident Conductor Kentaro Kawase for the first time on the PMF stage. Kawase served as PMF Assistant Conductor from 2007 to 2009 and quickly became a highly sought-after conductor, now holding multiple principal positions in Japan.

The PMF Host City Orchestra Concert often features PMF artists as soloists, and this year Denis Bouriakov, PMF AMERICA flutist and principal of the LA Phil, will perform Kevin Puts’ Flute Concerto. Puts has established himself on the forefront of American composers of his generation; his opera based on the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Hours” recently premiered at the Metropolitan Opera to great critical acclaim.

The concert begins with PMF-founder Bernstein’s political overture “Slava!” and culminates with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, a piece with a special place in the Sapporo SO repertoire across their 60-year history.

The Host City Orchestra Concert presents a Sapporo Symphony Orchestra concert only possible at PMF!

The Picnic Concert is a distinctly PMF experience, offering a day of music outdoors in a relaxed summertime environment. The festival has presented outdoor concerts every year since the first festival in 1990 with the aim of offering music to a wider audience in more casual and familiar settings. In addition to enjoying performances of the finest music, listeners can enjoy a pleasant summer day in Sapporo with food and drink, and even take a walk around the beautiful Sapporo Art Park.

The first half of the concert features some of PMF’s finest alumni making their return to the Picnic Concert stage as ARK BRASS, and in the second half the PMF Orchestra performs Bruckner’s grand final testament, his complete Symphony No. 9, with Thomas Dausgaard!

PMF chamber concerts are presented at various venues in Sapporo and Hokkaido, with a broad range of ensemble repertoire performed by all PMF musicians – Academy and faculty alike!

From well-known classical masterpieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms to pieces composed in the modern era, these concerts center on small ensembles (often 3, 4, or 5 players per piece) of strings, woodwinds, brass, and more. Some concerts include PMF Orchestra members performing with local junior high school wind ensembles, reflecting the festival’s mission of outreach to the younger generation. This year we especially hope to see you at the PMF Homecoming Concert, performed by the all-alumni Pacific Quintet, made up of the members with varied nationalities and backgrounds who first met at PMF 2017. The Pacific Quintet has garnered prizes at international competitions including 2nd Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition, using music as a communicative tool, reflecting the spirit of Bernstein’s intention for PMF, namely generosity and mutual respect through music. Please enjoy the latest performance of this highly promising ensemble!

*Concerts by PMF VIENNA and PMF BERLIN will take place in the Main Hall of Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara this summer, to accommodate as many listeners as possible.

We hope you will enjoy being immersed in the kaleidoscopic world of chamber music!