PMF 30th Anniversary Booklet available online

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of PMF in 2019, we compiled an anniversary booklet, and now we have created an online version, available to view through March 2021! The PMF “30 Years” booklet features photos from each year’s festival, interviews with conductors, faculty, and alumni, behind-the-scenes glimpses into the life of the 2019 Academy, records of participating artists, faculty and Academy members, PMF Orchestra programs, and much more.

In spite of the current difficulties in the world, through reflecting on PMF’s history we are reminded of our commitment to faithfully serve the festival’s mission, established by its founders 30 years ago.

Working toward PMF 2021

Preparations for PMF 2021, the festival’s long-awaited 31st season, are currently underway.
Due to the Covid-19 crisis, performing arts organizations around the world continue to find themselves in difficult conditions, in addition to the difficulties of daily life.
The Vienna Philharmonic’s Japan tour in early November gave us renewed courage in striving to sustain the musical arts, and the crowds that greeted them, in need of experiencing live music once again, served as an expression of the necessity of this art-form in our lives. Familiar musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic, along with those from the Berlin Philharmonic and major US orchestras, are scheduled to return to PMF as faculty next summer, and we continue to prepare with hope for the day when we can welcome all festival participants to Sapporo once again!

Support PMF

Prior to the pandemic, we never imagined that the day would come when we could not share the joy of music-making in person. And then quite suddenly, that day was upon us. Even now we are forced to more deeply ponder our circumstances, and our role in the global community.

PMF’s international learning and teaching environment, with its diversity of Academy students and faculty members alike, is truly unique. Students who studied here have gone on to contribute to their respective communities as performers, teachers, and various other professionals, in part as a result of their eye-opening experiences at PMF, and we are confident that this will continue into the future.

If you are able, please consider supporting this ongoing work by making a donation. Your support will help to reopen the festival, and to maintain the high educational standards envisioned by the founders in 1990 and sustained throughout the festival’s history to this point.

PMF Connects LIVE!

Currently in Sapporo, in strict accordance with health-authority guidelines for Covid-19 prevention, PMF alumni continue to perform PMF Connects LIVE! concerts, as well as concerts at schools in Sapporo, most recently at the downtown Sapporo Ekimae-dori Underground Walkway and Sapporo Clock Tower Hall, and at 2 Sapporo elementary schools. The latter were lecture concerts, featuring a woodwind quintet performing for 6th graders who had been unable to experience live music during the pandemic. Some of the students even got a chance to try their hand at conducting Bizet’s “Carmen” overture!

Upcoming PMF Connects LIVE! concerts

We will present the following concerts in December and January.