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August 23 - 28

Suntory Hall Summer Festival 2023

Presented by Suntory Hall since 1987, this celebration of contemporary music has become a familiar event in Tokyo’s summer music scene.
This year’s Suntory Hall Summer Festival will take place on August 23-28 and is formed of three different strands: The Producer Series MASAHIRO MIWA, Theme Composer OLGA NEUWIRTH as part of the “Suntory Hall International Program for Music Composition”, and Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition.

■The Producer Series MASAHIRO MIWA


In this series, each year a different artist/ensemble is invited to curate a series of concerts from his/her/their unique point of view. This year’s producer is the Japanese composer Masahiro Miwa, winner of the Suntory Music Award in 2020, and known for his diverse output including works based on the method known as algorithmic composition. He has long been fascinated by gamelan music of Indonesia, and for this festival, he has devised two events through which he explores the universe of gamelan. En-gawa is an installation event; an imaginary street corner of Indonesia is set up in the Blue Rose where people can walk around and experience various music/dance performances that will pop up. Meanwhile, the concert Music in the Universe will feature Music for Gongs and Bamboo by José Maceda, Filipino ethnomusicologist and composer, as well as world premiere of works for gamelan ensemble by 4 Japanese composers.
> MASAHIRO MIWA, The Producer Series 2023
Text by Masahiro Miwa, Translated by keikoushiryou
> Suntory Hall Summer Festival 2023’s Producer Series features Masahiro Miwa)
Text by KenIchiro Hoshi, Translated by Kazuki Takami (Intoxicate

FRI 25 13:00-20:00 > Book Now
SAT 26 13:00-20:00 > Book Now
SUN 27 10:00-17:00 > Book Now
Blue Rose (Small Hall)
En-gawa
The “open house” appears in the hall. Three days without interval, drifting by the country and the music.

An open house appears in the middle of the hall. The inside and outside are loosely connected by a veranda. A gamelan is placed inside the house, and music naturally resounds when the time comes. Outside the house, stalls and food stalls are set up where visitors and performers can freely stroll around and enjoy eating, drinking and selling goods.
*En-gawa is a type of veranda in a Japanese traditional house, a space that connects the inside and the outside worlds.
*The En-gawa space is open at any time during the opening hours of the 3 days and becomes a plaza that can be entered and exited freely. The visitors with a one-day admission ticket can enter as many times as they wish on that day.


Project Direction: KITA (Anastasia Yuanita, Jun Kitazawa, Junpei Nousaku, Munif Rafi Zuhdi, Shohei Tsuda, Siti Sarah Rayhana and Yuki Miyata)
Music Direction: Marga Sari (Naoki Ebisuya, Takuya Oi, Gaku Kurokawa, Kanna Taniguchi, Shin Nakagawa, Manami Nishi, Akihiro Nis
Concerts at En-gawa
 Guest: Paraguna Group, Marga Sari, Mizuho Asano, KULU-KULU, and more
Night Program “Gamelan Assembly II” 19:00-20:00himura and Midori Moriyama)

EVENT
FRI, AUG 25 13:00-20:00 Blue Rose (Small Hall)
 Concerts at En-gawa
 Guest: Makoto Nomura, Dajare Music Community Band, and others
 Night Program “Gamelan Assembly I” 19:00-20:00
 Host: Masahiro Miwa, and others
SAT, AUG 26 13:00-20:00 Blue Rose (Small Hall)
 Concerts at En-gawa
 Guest: Paraguna Group, Marga Sari, Mizuho Asano, KULU-KULU, and others
 Night Program “Gamelan Assembly II” 19:00-20:00
 Host: Masahiro Miwa, and others
SUN, AUG 27 12:00-17:00 Blue Rose (Small Hall)
 Concerts at En-gawa
 Guest: Shin Sakuma, Koheysai Kawamura, and others

> More info (in Japanese)

EXTRA EVENT
THU, AUG 24 18:00 Blue Rose (Small Hall) *Approx running time: 60 mins
OPENING
* Admission for the “Combined Ticket En-gawa & Music in the Universe” holders only

Masahiro Miwa
En-gawa (Illustration KITA)

SUN, AUG 27 17:00 Main Hall
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Music in the Universe
Mamoru Fujieda: Concerto for piano and gamelan no.2 (2023) [World Premiere]
 Gamelan Jawa: Marga Sari / Mini Piano: Satoru Sunahara
Yasuno Miyauchi: SinRa (2023) [World Premiere]
 Gamelan Jawa: Marga Sari / Voices: Tsumugine / Rebab: Naho Homma
José Maceda: Music for Gongs and Bamboo for Gamelan, Ryuteki (Piccolo), Double Bassoon, Percussion and Chorus (1997)
 Conductor: Makoto Nomura / Gamelan Jawa: Marga Sari / Ryuteki: Yoshiyuki Izaki / Double Bassoon: Hidetaka Nakagawa / Percussion: Mitsuru Nakatani and “Soai University Percussion Group” / The Little Singers of Tokyo
Noriko Koide: Legit Memories (2023) [World Premiere]
 Gamelan Jawa: Marga Sari / Vocal: Junko Satoh / Saxophone: Yukari Uekawa
Makoto Nomura: Tarik Tambang (2023) [World Premiere]
 Gamelan Jawa: Marga Sari and Makoto Nomura, and more / Dajare Music Community Band, and more

Gamelan Performance by Marga Sari

■Theme Composer OLGA NEUWIRTH
Suntory Hall International Program for Music Composition No. 45 (Artistic Director: Toshio Hosokawa)


The Theme Composer series presents a portrait of a leading international composer, and commissions him/her a new orchestral work that is premiered during the festival. This year’s theme composer is the celebrated Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth (b. 1968), whose opera Orlando, premiered at the Vienna State Opera in 2019, was the first house commission from a female composer. She is internationally known for the versatility of her musical statements that pushes boundaries in a wide range of forms and genres. She has won numerous awards including the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Composition in 2022.
In the Orchestra Portrait concert (August 24, Main Hall), the commissioned work Orlando’s World, based on her opera, will be premiered by her close colleague Matthias Pintscher.
> Echoing between a rock and a hard place - On the work of Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth
Text by Walter Weidringer

WED, AUG 23 19:00 Blue Rose (Small Hall)
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Music Composition Workshop × Talk Session
Part 1 Olga Neuwirth × Toshio Hosokawa Talk Session
Part 2 Workshop by Call for Scores
 Ayu Uchigaki: Cello-Churro-Chorizo for Cello Solo
 Takuto Muromoto: Tokara Evoke for Flute, Viola and Cello
 Nanao Yamada: Whale for Clarinet Solo
 *The order of participation will be announced on the day

Lecture Olga Neuwirth / Toshio Hosokawa
Performance
 Flute: Shino Saito / Clarinet: Kaori Tanaka / Viola: Fumiko Kai / Cello: Mano Shimojima
Interpreter Kazuko Kurahara

Olga Neuwirth ©Harald Hoffmann

THU, AUG 24 19:00 Main Hall
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Orchestra Portrait (Commissioned Work Program)
Jacob Mühlrad:
REMS (short version) for Orchestra (2021/23) [World Premiere]
Olga Neuwirth:
Orlando’s World (2023) [World Premiere, commissioned by Suntory Hall]
Masaot / Clocks without Hands for Orchestra (2013)
Alexander Scriabin:
Symphony No. 4, Op. 54, “Le poème de l’extase” (1905-08)

Mezzo-Soprano: Virpi Räisänen
Conductor: Matthias Pintscher
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra

MON, AUG 28 19:00 Blue Rose (Small Hall)
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Chamber Music Portrait
Olga Neuwirth:
Quasare / Pulsare II for Violin, Cello and Piano (2016)
 Violin: Mayuko Ishigami / Cello: Ayano Kamimura / Piano: Takuya Otaki
…ad auras… in memoriam H. for Two Violins and Wooden Drum ad libitum (1999)
 Violin: Mayuko Ishigami, Ayane Kawamura / Wooden Drum: Hiromi Shinoda
incidendo / fluido for Piano and CD Player (2000)
 Piano: Takuya Otaki / Electronics: Sumihisa Arima
Magic Flu-idity for Flute Solo (and Typewriter) (2018)
 Flute: Takako Imai / Typewriter: Reina Iwami
spazio elastico for Ensemble (2005) [Japanese Premiere]
 Trumpet: Takashi Shinozaki / Trombone: Kousei Murata / Percussion: Hiromi Shinoda, Reina Iwami / Electric Guitar: Koki Fujimoto / Electric Piano: Takuya Otaki / Cello: Ayano Kamimura

Matthias Pintscher (Suntory Hall Summer Festival 2021 - Theme Composer MATTHIAS PINTSCHER) ©N. Ikegami

■The 33rd Competition of Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition


This award is presented to the most notable orchestral work by a Japanese composer premiered during the previous year (January-December 2022). Following the performance of the three nominated works, the jury will conduct the deliberations on stage in public. There will also be an opportunity for the public to vote for their favorite piece. The concert will open with the world premiere of the commissioned work by Yu Kuwabara, the winner of the 2021 award.

SAT, AUG 26 15:00 Main Hall 
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Yu Kuwabara*: Falling Leaves Moon Steps [World Premiere, commissioned by Suntory Foundation for the Arts]
 Shakuhachi: Reison Kuroda / Shamisen: Hidejiro Honjoh
* Awardee of The 31st Competition of Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award (2020) > More info

◎Nominated Works
Hiroki Tanaka: Trace/Spiral (Différance II) for Orchestra (2021-22)
Wataru Mukai: DANCING QUEER for Orchestra (2022)
Junichi Matsumoto: Half-Forgotten Floors, or Rooms for Scordatura Group and Orchestra (2016/18/22)
> About the Nominated Works

Conductor: Seitaro Ishikawa
New Japan Philharmonic

◎Open Screening (MC: Miyuki Shiraishi)
Jury: Yasutaki Inamori, Kunitaka Kokaji, Yukiko Watanabe

Yu Kuwabara, Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award 2021 awardee (third from left)
Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, President of Suntory Hall (second from left) and The jury in 2021

Presented by
Suntory Hall
Under the Auspices of
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (The Producer Series MASAHIRO MIWA)
Austrian Embassy / Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo (Theme Composer OLGA NEUWIRTH)
Supported by
Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture (The Producer Series MASAHIRO MIWA / Theme Composer OLGA NEUWIRTH)
The Japan Federation of Composers Inc. / Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers Japan / Society for Contemporary Music (The 33rd Competition of Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition)
Coordinated by
Tokyo Concerts, Inc.