No.she035March 16, 2023
Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden
June 3-18 2023
A regular feature of Suntory Hall's summer landscape, the annual Chamber Music Garden festival (CMG) takes place over 16 days in June in the small hall “Blue Rose”. Founded in 2011 in order that people can experience chamber music up close in an intimate setting, CMG has now developed into Japan's largest chamber music festival. This year, a total of 21 concerts will take place, including the complete Beethoven String Quartet cycle, which has become an annual fixture. In addition to the live experience, five selected concerts will be streamed (Live and On Demand) on the Digital Suntory Hall platform.
Each year, the festival kicks off with a concert produced and performed by the hall's President and cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. This year, he performs an varied programme of popular favourites from Schubert to Piazzolla with eminent harpist Naoko Yoshino and pianist Yuko Suseki (June 3).
On the same day, the Elias String Quartet embarks on its journey of Beethoven's string quartets, exploring the cycle over six days (June 3-14). The distinguished British quartet, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, first took on the cycle in 2011-15 and has since performed it on several occasions, most recently in Houston. They have also released a recording of the cycle from the Wigmore Hall label. This will be their first appearance in Japan.
This year, CMG welcomes the professors and soloists of the Kronberg Academy from Germany (June 15, 17). The internationally renowned academy for elite string players was the recipient of the Grant for Young Artists at the Praemium Imperiale 2022. Together with Professors Mihaela Martin (violin), Nobuko Imai (viola), and Frans Helmerson (cello), current students and prominent alumni will perform two programmes which include Dvořák's glorious Piano Quintet and Brahms's String Sextet No.2. They will also take part in the CMG FINALE 2023 concert (June 18).
A regular CMG artist, renowned horn player Radek Baborák returns to give a concert of chamber works with horn, including Mozart's Horn Quintet and Taffanel's Woodwind Quintet, together with young Japanese wind players and selected fellows (academy members) of the Suntory Hall Chamber Music Academy (June 11).
CMG is an important showcase for the fellows and alumni of Suntory Hall's Chamber Music Academy. The Aoi Trio, Academy alumni and winner of the ARD competition, continues with their seven-year project for the CMG, surveying Beethoven's piano trios in combination with other diverse repertoire. This year's programme combines Beethoven's Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3 with trios by Debussy and Rachmaninoff, whose 150th anniversary is celebrated this year (June 9). They will also take part in the “A Guide to Chamber Music” concert with the current Academy fellows (June 11).
In recent years, CMG has featured chamber music performed on historical instruments. This year, there will be an opportunity to listen to the delicate sounds of the 1867 Érard piano owned by Suntory Hall in an evening of Brahms's mature chamber works performed by leading specialists in historical performance, Shunske Sato (violin), Hidemi Suzuki (cello), and Shuann Chai (fortepiano).
The weekday evening “Discovery! Night” concert, brilliant pianist Tomoki Kitamura and colleagues explore two groundbreaking symphonic works in chamber arrangements: Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 and Shostakovich's Symphony No.15.
“Precious 1pm” is a popular series of one-hour concerts held on weekday lunchtimes with talks from the artists from the stage (June 5, 8, 14). The line-up includes the regular duo of Michie Koyama (piano) and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and the youthful trio led by Daichi Nakamura (violin). Also, following on from last year's successful concert combining Japanese and Western instruments, shō (Japanese mouth organ) player Mayumi Miyata will join Naoko Yoshino in a programme of traditional gagaku, Debussy and Hosokawa.
CMG continues to cater for a diverse audience by having concerts at different times of the day, and it features a strong line-up of world-class musicians across the generations. From chamber music beginners to connoisseurs, there is plenty for everyone to enjoy at Chamber Music Garden.
Details of the Chamber Music Garden 2023 can be found at the following:
https://www.suntory.com/culture-sports/suntoryhall/article/detail/001117.html
For further information and press photos, please contact:
suntoryhall-pr@suntory.co.jp
Public Relations, Suntory Hall
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