News

8/12-22 OMF Film Concert at Shinmai Media Garden!

OMF Film Concert will take place at Shinmai Mdeia Garden from Aug 12 - 22. Please enjoy some cool air with great music and opera on big screen. See the photo for the film list.

■OMF Film Concert
Shinmai Media Garden 1F Hall
Aug 12 (Mon Holiday) - 22 (Thu) 1PM - 5PM
Admission Free
Please see the photo for the film list.

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Come and enjoy beautiful harmony at Matsumoto Castle tomorrow!

One of the OMF open events which tells us the arrival of the festival season "Harmony at the Castle" take place at Matsumoto Castle Park tomorrow. Together with SK Matsumoto Chorus Group and SK Matsumoto Junior Chorus Group, a special chorus group from China will join the performance. Please enjoy the beautiful harmony across borders.

Harmony at the Castle
Aug 10 (Sat) 10:30 - 12:00
Matsumoto Castle Park

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Special "Demae" Concert at Matsumoto City Museum of Art

We are happy to announce special "Demae" concert of Opera Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin" at Matsumoto City Museum of Art. We will present some songs from the opera as well as commentary on story. We are looking forward to seeing you there!


【Special Demae Concert 《Art meets Music》Opera Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin" Selection】

Aug 11 (Sun) 18:30 (about 1 hour
Matsumoto City Museum of Art Lobby Hall (The concert will take place after the Museum closed)

<Casts>
Takaoki Onishi (Eugene Onegin)
Ekaterina Sannikova (Tatyana)
Evgeniy Akhmedov (Lensky)
Carolyn Sproule (Olga)
Joshua Blue (Mousieur Triquet)
David Soar (Prince Gremin)

Piano: Mariko Kobayashi
Comment:Takuya Nemoto
*Casts are subject to change.

<Songs>
Area, duets and more from Opera "Eugene Onegin"

<How to attend>
〇Free of charge
〇Numbered tickets will be distributed from 9:30AM on the day of the concert at Matsumoto City Museum of Art / In front of Lecture room. Maximum number of tickets is 80.
〇Door open 6:00PM.

Opera Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin" Backstage Tour

 Opera Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin" will host a backstage tour on Aug 22 (Thu). Please see below for details.


【Opera Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin" Backtage tour】

Aug 22 (Thu) After 15:00PM performance
*No backstage tour on 20 and 24.

<About>
◯Participants must have Aug 22 performance ticket.
◯Maximum 50 people can participate. Please apply through application form at the venue on the day of the performance. When the number of people were more than 50, we will hold a lottery.
◯The application form is open from 14:00PM to 15:00PM. We will announce the participants during intermission.
◯Tour is about 30 min.
◯The tour may be cancelled for unavoidable circumstances.

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Opera Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin" Cast Change Announcement

Baritone singer Mariusz Kwiecien, who was to sing the title role in Opera Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin on August 20, 22, and 24, has stepped down due to a knee injury.

Mr. Kwiecien sustained an injury to his knee on July 5 while performing in the Mozart opera Le nozze di Figaro at Bayerische Staatsoper (Germany). He underwent surgery on July 16, but has been diagnosed as requiring a few weeks to recuperate, rendering it impossible for him to come to Japan for OMF on August 7 as scheduled and to participate in the rehearsals and performances. It has thus been decided that his appearance in Eugene Onegin must be canceled. We deeply apologize to those who were looking forward to Mr. Kwiecien’s performance.

Turkish baritone Levent Bakirci will sing in place of Mr. Kwiecien. In 2018, Mr. Bakirci made his debut at the Festival of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in the title role of Il prigioniero by Luigi Dallapiccola. He returned to the festival in 2019 as Graf von Gloster in Aribert Reimann’s Lear under the baton of Fabio Luisi, and is invited back in 2020 for Pizarro/Fidelio, under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Mr. Bakirci is an up-and-coming singer highly commended by Maestro Luisi, and we invite you to look forward to his performance.

Please see here for Levent Bkirci Profile


Opera Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin"
Aug 20 (Tue) 18:30
Aug 22 (Thu) 15:00
Aug 24 (Sat) 15:00
Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre Main Hall
 
(Scheduled Cast)Eugene Onegin : Mariusz Kwiecien
(Cast change)Eugene Onegin : Levent Bakirci


Saito Kinen Orchestra
Conductor : Fabio Luisi

※Please note that no ticket refunds or exchanges will be made due to this change.

Trumpet Clinic By Gábor Tarkövi !

Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival has been passionate about teaching local school children who plays music as one of the open events "Instrumental Clinic". We are thrilled to announce that this year the world famous trumpet player Gábor Tarkövi will be having special Trumpet Clinic and Master Class in Matsumoto.

Mr. Tarkövi will teach selected local school children (elementary to high school students) the basic technique of trumpet which followed by a group lesson. At the later part of the day, Mr. Tarkovi teaches 2 trumpet members from Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra as master class. The trumpet clinic, group lesson and master class are all open to public for audit. It will be an amazing opportunity for anyone who plays and/or teaches brass instruments.


Trumpet Clinic & Master Class

Date:Aug 20 (Tue) 13:30 - 15:30
Contents:
① Trumpet Clinic and Group Lesson ※about 30 students (selected from elementary to high school students belongs to Matsumoto Wind Instrument Music Association)
②Master Class with Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra 2 trumpet players
Venue:The Harmony Hall
Fee:No charge. ① and ② are open to public to for audit


How to attend the audit:The venue will be open from 13:00. All seats are general seating. No need to reserve in advance.
Gábor Tarkövi
Gábor Tarkövi was born in Esztergom in 1969, descendant of a family of musicians. He started his career at the Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra as co-principal trumpet, then moved on to the Berlin Symphonie Orchestra (today Konzerthausorchester Berlin) as principal trumpet, and in 1999 to the Bayern Radio Symphony Orchestra as principal trumpet. Since 2004, he has been the principal trumpet player of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Besides his orchestral work, Gábor Tarkövi frequently plays chamber music in the Pro Brass and the Austrian Brass Connection, in the Wien-Berlin Brass Quintet and in the Berlin Philharmonic Brass Trio.
He plays at the festival from 2007. He performs in Orchestra Concert Program A at this year's Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.
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Chamber Concert program details announcement!

We are happy to announce the program details of Chamber Concert I, II and III.
On 3 weekends in August the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival present you the colorful and excellent series of music. On the 2nd day of the festival, The Chamber Concert I welcomes again the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland that the director Ozawa has been nourished for over 15 years. They will perform several string quartets and octet. Along with Academy Switzerland, Ozawa keeps his passion into educating Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy Okushiga. The alums of the Academy Okushiga will join the Switzerland members and play String Quartet No.16 (string orchestra), a piece that Beethoven completed at the last in his life. Please see their performance from previous year concert here.

Chamber Concert II presents the all Beethoven program. Saito Kinen Orchestra oboe section plaies trio performance at the first half of the program. The trio was formed when Philippe Tondre won the Beethoven Ring award for the first time as an oboe player, and ever since they call themselves as "Ring Trio" and performs vigorously mainly in Europe. Tondre, Matthieu Petitjean and Max Werner studied at the Conservatoire in Paris, they make a perfect trio performance. In the later half, SKO members give you superb septet by Beethoven.

One of the must-listen programs is string sextet by Brahms leaded by Takayoshi Wanami. The chamber concert regular Jacques Zoon and Iseut Chuat will perform together with Naoko Yoshino (harp) and Akira Eguchi (piano) in Chamber Concert III.

The tickets for Chamber Concerts and OMF Chamber Study Group -Liedduo- Recital are now available at The Harmony Hall.

2019OMF pre-event at Ginza NAGANO!

We are happy to announce that we will come back to Ginza NAGANO, the Nagano pref shop in Ginza for the 4th time. Saito Kinen Orchestra members Ribon Aida (violin) and Maiko Takimoto (viola) will perform 2 concerts; one for children and one for classical music fans.
2019OMF tickets and previous merchandises are aslo available for purchase at the venue. It will be the only chance that you can purchase 2019OMF ticket at window in Tokyo.

Please see below for the program details and see here for reservation.


Date: July 7 (Sun)
Event: Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival comes to Ginza
Venue:Ginza NAGANO 2F Event Space (NOCO Build. 1/2/4F 5-6-5, Ginza, Chuo, Tokyo)

11:00-11:30 Mini Concert for Children
【Artists】Ribon Aida&Maiko Takimoto
【Program】Mozart: Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major
J.S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major
Ysaÿe: Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 and more

【Price】Adult:1000 yen / Child (up to Junior High School Children): Free

14:00-14:45 Salon Concert & Talk
【Artists】Ribon Aida&Maiko Takimoto
【Program】Mozart: Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major
J.S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009, IV. Sarabande
Ysaÿe: Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 27, No. 2
Halvorsen: Passacaglia in G Minor
Martinů: Duo No. 1, H. 313, "3 Madrigals"

【Price】Adult:3000 yen

Please see here for reservation

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Pre-event at Shinmai MEDIA GARDEN!

2019OMF pre-events will take place at newly-open Shinmai MEDIA GARDEN in Matsumoto! The rising star Baritone Takaoki Onishi who is one of cover casts at Opera: Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin", and Saito Kinen Orchestra piano/celesta player Mariko Kobayashi are going to make 2 performances on July 6 (Sat).

A native of Tokyo, Japan, baritone Takaoki Onishi is quickly gaining recognition as one of the most talented singers of his generation. In just one year, he won the Top Prize in Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the First Prize in both the Opera Index, Inc. Vocal Competition and the Licia Albanese-Puccini International Vocal Competition. He also received a prize in the 2013 Loren L. Zachary Competition. Most recently, he was named First Prize winner in the 2015 Giulio Gari Competition. Mr. Onishi will sing aria from "Eugene Onegin" as well as famous number "Ombra mai fu".

Shinmai Media Garden will be filled with music on the day of the event! Before the OMF concert, Gakuto Matsumoto Live will perform at the entrance square of the venue. Also you may enjoy OMF previous concerts videos between the concerts.

OMF merchandise and 2019OMF tickets are also available for purchase! It will be the only place you can purchase tickets includes Orchestra Concerts at window in Nagano pref. All programs are free of charge! We are looking forward to seeing you!


OMF Pre-event Afternoon Concert

Date: July 6 (Sat)
Venue: Shinmai MEDIA GARDEN 1F Hall (2-20-2, Chuo, Matsumoto, Nagano) MAP
Artists: Takaoki Onishi (Baritone)
Mariko Kobayashi (Piano)
Time: ① 13:00 - 13:30 Concert 
   ② 13:30 - 15:00 OMF previous videos
   ③ 15:00 - 15:30 Concert 
   12:00 - 16:00 OMF tickets & merchandise are available for purchase  

※The program of concert ① and ③ are the same.
Please see here for details of Gakuto Matsumoto Live from 12:00 PM.
※No parking area for visitors. Please use general parking nearby.

Programs:
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), -Largo al factotum
Handel: Serse (Xerxes), HWV40, - Ombra mai fu
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Op.24, TH.5, - Vi mnye pisali - Uzhel ta samaya Tatyana

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Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Brass Ensemble performs at Randonée Picnic 2019 in Matsumoto!

Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Brass Ensemble performs at Randonée Picnic 2019 in Matsumoto again!

The outdoor event Randonée Picnic marks its 3rd year to be held in Agata no Mori Koen in Matsumoto city. The event organizes various work shops, fashion show, live stages and talk events. 2 years in a row, Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra Brass Ensemble quintet performs refreshing harmony with popular children's songs, Disney medley and more.

Also at OMF booth, we will have "Brass Instruments Touch and Play" service. We will have some brass instruments for adult and kids, and brass artists will kindly teach you how to play them. Children are all welcome here.

Date: June 22 (Sat) and 23 (Sun) 【2 stages】

Venue:Agata no Mori Koen Heiwa Hiroba (3-2102-4, Agata, Matsumoto, Nagano) MAP
① June 22 (Sat) 13:30 - 14:00
② June 23 (Sun) 13:15 - 13:45

Artists:Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra Brass Ensemble (quintet)

Trumpet:Ryutaro Hagehashi, Ken Yoshii
Horn:Haruna Horiguchi
Trombone:Akari Minami
Tuba:Tsuyoshi Wakabayashi


Randonnée Picnic 2019 in Matsumoto (Japanese only)
Date: June 22 (Sat) - June 23 (Sun), 2019
Schedule: Day 1: 10:00-17:00 / Day 2: 10:00-16:00
Venue: Agata no Mori Koen Heiwa Hiroba (3-2102-4, Agata, Matsumoto, Nagano) MAP
Entrance: Free

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