SUNTORYHALL

JAPANESE

For press

Press Contact

Public Relations Department

  • suntoryhall-pr@suntory.co.jp
  • This email is only for press & media enquiries. Please clarify the name of your company or media for your enquiry. For any other enquiries, access this link.

News release

No.she016May 8, 2019

SUNTORY HALL’S 9TH CHAMBER MUSIC GARDEN, 1-16 JUNE 2019

Suntory Hall’s annual Chamber Music Garden (CMG) festival takes place over 16 days in June in the intimate space of its “Blue Rose” (Small Hall). Founded in 2011 in order that people can experience chamber music in a cosy atmosphere and enjoy the musicians perform up close, it has now developed into one of Japan’s largest chamber music festivals, attracting an impressive line-up of outstanding chamber musicians from home and abroad.
This year, 19 concerts are held, opening with a concert produced by cellist and President of Suntory Hall Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi to celebrate 50 years of the Suntory Foundation for the Arts (June 1). Highlights include the Beethoven Cycle by the Kuss Quartett, an evening of solo / chamber music on an Érard piano, and the popular weekday lunchtime concert series.

  • For the annual Beethoven String Quartet cycle, CMG welcomes the Berlin-based innovative Kuss Quartett. They will perform the sixteen quartets in the order of composition over five concerts (June 2-13). and the final concert will culminate in the world premiere of Bruno Mantovani’s new string quartet “Beethoveniana,” which is co-commissioned by Suntory Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Pro Quartet, Norddeutscher Rundfunk - NDR Hannover, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and Wigmore Hall, London.
  • CMG’s “Asia-Ensemble at Tokyo” series brings together notable chamber musicians from the Asia region. This year, South Korean violinist Soojin Han, Japanese cellist Dai Miyata and Siberia-born pianist Pavel Kolesnikov will give a one-night only performance in a program including Debussy’s cello sonata and Brahms’s Piano Trio No.1 (June 10).
  • The winner of last year’s first-ever International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw, Tomasz Ritter, will give an afternoon concert of Chopin’s solo / chamber music on the historical Érard piano (1867) in the possession of Suntory Hall. In the first half, Ritter will perform Ballade No. 4 and a selection of polonaises and mazurkas, and in the second half, he will be joined by five Japanese period-instrument performers, including members of Bach Collegium Japan, in the chamber version of Chopin’s youthful second piano concerto (June 9).
  • Innovative chamber group Ensemble Raro, regular performers at the Chiemgauer Musikfrühling Festival in Germany and the Kobe International Music Festival amongst others, celebrates their 15th anniversary in a program pairing Brahms’s well-loved Piano Quartet No.3 with the powerful and emotional Piano Quartet (2001) by the renowned Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks (June 15). They will also take part in the Chamber Music Academy Concert II (matinee, June 15) and the FINALE 2019 (June 16).
  • “Precious 1pm Vol. 1 – 4” is a series of one-hour weekday lunchtime concerts introduced from the stage by the musicians. In the first of this year’s series, the distinguished faculty members of the Suntory Hall Chamber Music Academy, Kikuei Ikeda (violin), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Hakuro Mori (cello), are joined by clarinettist István Kohán and violinist Reiko Watanabe in a program featuring popular highlights of the clarinet quintet repertoire (June 5, Vol. 1). Emerging young violinist Moné Hattori performs masterpieces of twentieth-century Russian chamber music, Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No.1 and Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No.2 (June 7, Vol. 2), and Michie Koyama (piano) and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi join forces again in a program of Mendelssohn’s cello sonatas (June 12, Vol. 3). Lastly, internationally renowned harpist Naoko Yoshino and Hiroshi Ikematsu, principal double bass of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and former principal of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, give an rare program of harp and double bass duets (June 14, Vol. 4).
  • The “Discovery Night” concerts, which start at 19:30, are perfect for dropping by after work. The first is an evening of German Lieder including Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin,” sung by tenor John Ken Nuzzo (June 6). The second concert features the unusual combination of trumpet and percussion, and the highlight will be an arrangement of Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” by the versatile percussion player and composer Satoshi Takeshima (June 12).
  • We also continue the popular Saturday morning concerts by the current fellows of Suntory Hall Chamber Music Academy (June 8, 15).
  • In the FINALE 2019, many of the participating artists and groups will come together in a festive and fun program for unusual combinations of instruments (June 16). Chamber Music Garden offers a wide-ranging program at various time slots to meet the diverse interests of the audience from beginners to connoisseurs.

For further information and press photos, please contact: suntoryhall-pr@suntory.co.jp
Public Relations, Suntory Hall

Website: http://suntory.jp/HALL-e/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suntoryhall/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuntoryHallE

Page Top