PMF MUSIC PARTNER 2022.10.1

PMF News - Autumn 2022

PMF 2022 Report

PMF 2022 featured the return of an international Academy and faculty, and all scheduled concerts/events were enjoyed by many PMF fans throughout the festival. Nothing compares to the diverse community that is the PMF Academy and the music they perform with distinguished conductors, faculty, and artists. With the final PMF Orchestra Concert at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the festival was brought to its successful close, reuniting the orchestra with PMF fans in Tokyo for the first time since 2019. The joy was palpable.

Some highlights of PMF 2022 are available now, with more to come soon!

PMF 2022 Concert Highlights

A selection of video highlights from PMF 2022, including performances and artist interviews, will be streamed online from October 1 through 31, with viewing passes available for just 500 yen (currently less than $4 USD)! Enjoy this preview!

reflections on pmf 2022 from the Academy

What I really liked in PMF is the familiar atmosphere. The organizers, the Academy, and the artists as well made a very friendly and caring environment throughout the festival. At the same time it was also challenging (sometimes a bit tiring for me) which changed my mindset and made me even more persistent in music. Playing and working with these world class musicians was just a dream which came true now during PMF 2022. Huge thanks to the organizers, who were working everyday so hard to make this festival a memorable and unforgettable event in our life. Thank you very much for everybody!

PMF was really an unforgettable experience. It was the best youth orchestra project I had ever played, concerning the music level of the Academy, the conditions in terms of rehearsal/practice and concert halls, the opportunity to play and have lessons with some of the best professional musicians in the current times and also with great conductors, the quality of the rehearsals, the good environment felt during the whole month and the general organization of the festival including all the “small” everyday things during PMF 2022.

PMF was incredible, and I was so thankful to be part of the magic this year! I’ve certainly never had an experience like it. I learnt so much from the world-class faculty, conductors, and peers. I felt cared for by PMF since faculty and staff reached out to me to make sure I was happy and took time to get to know me. I felt that the PMF Organizing Committee and the RAs made every effort to make PMF a wonderful time. The orchestra was among the best I’ve ever experienced, and I felt lucky to make music with everyone.

Lahav Shani interview and speech

Outstanding pianist and highly sought-after conductor Lahav Shani made his long-awaited debut with the PMF Orchestra at PMF 2022. His rehearsals were full of energy, and his inspiring music-making and wise words surely left a lifelong impression on the members of the Academy. Enjoy this brief video interview, and a text excerpt of his speech to the orchestra after the final concert!

From Maestro Shani’s speech after the final concert in Tokyo

It is said that the conductor is important to make an orchestra sound better and so on, but the truth is that it also works the other way around. A good orchestra, good musicians inspire the conductor. Whatever you saw this week, if you liked what you saw, a lot of it is because of you, because of what you gave. The more you give the conductor, the more you give to the public, the more you get in return.

You are so hungry for music, you are so hungry for knowledge, and you know, doing these things for the first time. Brahms’ second symphony, every orchestra I conduct, they’ve all done it many, many times. They know the secrets, they know where it’s going to be dangerous, where you’re going to rush, and where it’s going to drag, and so on. They know these. So it’s difficult to just bring it back to how it was the first time. For you, it’s like first love, and that makes it for me a really remarkable experience. That brings everything out that I have in my heart to this music, and to music making.

Thank you for your commitment to music, thank you for taking risks in the concerts. As I told you in the rehearsals, it doesn’t work just planning everything, and just repeating the same thing again and again. Once you know how to do something well, don’t just repeat it 3, 4, 5 times, 20 times, because that’s the way to routine. Just repeating what you know gets boring very very quickly, and such music shouldn’t be boring, ever. You should be able to play it 2,000 times in a row and still be excited from the beginning. So I hope whenever you play this symphony, whenever you play any piece of music, you will always have this feeling of freshness, as if everybody in the public is listening to the piece for the first time. I know you can do it, you just proved to yourself and to me that you can do it.

I wish you best of luck for the future.
I love you all, it’s been a great pleasure.
Thank you.

PMF 2022 Farewell Reception, August 2, Tokyo

PMF 2023 Auditions － preliminary details

PMF 2023 auditions will begin in early November, and details on required excerpts and much more will be released then. The deadline to submit will be January 18, 2023 at 12:00 noon, Japan Time. All auditions will be online via Acceptd, with a non-refundable site-usage fee of $30 USD, payable by credit card only. Orchestral instrumentalists between the age of 18 and 29 as of July 1, 2023 are eligible to audition.

For successful applicants, PMF covers educational costs, round-trip flight costs between the city of origin and Sapporo, travel costs within Japan, and accommodations during the festival period. Meals or stipends are provided. Faculty will include musicians of the Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, and principals of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and other major US orchestras.

Academy members will be required to arrive in Sapporo on July 6, and will depart from Tokyo on August 2, 2023.

Though details are yet to be released, the previous year’s information is always left online, for reference. See the link below.

Recent PMF alumni activities

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the ward system in Sapporo, and each ward held its anniversary program in September. PMF alumni performed at 2 of these programs.

In Nishi Ward, an 8-member ensemble including 5 PMF alumni performed a program of classical and Sapporo/Hokkaido-related music.

photo : This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the ward system in Sapporo

While in Minami Ward, the event also celebrated the 130-year history of Japan’s agricultural programs in Hokkaido. The municipal history of Hokkaido began in the Meiji era, in the late 1800s, and the Japanese government invited advisors in various fields from Europe and the USA. Advisors from the USA had particular impact on the development of Hokkaido, especially related to farming and agriculture. One such advisor was Edwin Dun from Ohio, who set up a farm in what is now Minami Ward, advising the government on modernizing agricultural techniques. With this history in mind, Minami Ward’s 50th anniversary opening event was held at Edwin Dun’s former farming office, which has been preserved and is now open to the public as a museum.

A PMF alumnus presented a trio concert on this occasion.

photo : Edwin Dun’s former farming office

In Tokyo, the Sapporo City Government hosted an event promoting Sapporo tourism and its bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympic Games once again (after hosting them in 1972), and featuring a performance by a string quartet of PMF alumni.

Help us sustain the quality standards of the festival!

We continue to ask for your support as we strive to maintain the high standards of this unique international music festival. The pandemic has highlighted the fragility of the arts and education; your support helps to secure educational opportunities for the young musicians of the world.

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Pacific Music Festival Organizing Committee
https://www.pmf.or.jp/en/
Sumitomo Seimei Sapporo Chuo Bldg.
1F 1-14, Minami 2 jo, Higashi 1 chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-0052
TEL: +81-11-242-2211　FAX: +81-11-242-1687

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