2018 Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival Open!
＜Aug. 19 (Sun) Joint Performance at Matsumoto Castle Honmaru Garden National Treasure>
The 2018 Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival has opened on Aug. 18 (Sat) with a brilliant performance of OMF Chamber Music Study Group -Brass Ensemble-! 10 young brass students who passed through an audition performed 2 quintets and 7 dectes (include encores) beautifully. More than 500 audience gave warm hands to the artists and 3 instructors, and they were asked to come back on the stage many times at the curtain call.
The festival had numbers of events on the 2nd day of the opening! Parade and Joint Performance took place throughout Matsumoto city on Aug. 19 (Sun). 55 groups, about 2700 people joined this open event. At the Joint Performance which took place at Matsumoto Castle Honmaru Garden National Treasure, OMF Chamber Musc Study Group -Brass Ensemble- instructor, Timothy Morrison conducted "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Shinano No Kuni" with 1700 young brass players and 10 OMF Chamber Music Study Group -Brass Ensemble- artists.
After the cheerful outside event, one of the most important programs of this year; Chamber Concert I -Robert Mann Memorial Concert- opened at the Harmony Hall.
To honor the great violinist, instructor and conductor, Mr. Robert Mann's loving memory, 20 members from Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland and 13 Saito Kinen Orchestra members performed together. Mr. Mann conducted Beethoven: String Quartet No.13 "Cavatina" at 2009 Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto with Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra. The video of this performance was screened before the opening.
The program has started with footage from Mr. Mann's documentary "Speak The Music" (2013/ Dir. Allan Miller). After 5 string quartets from the Academy, Mr. Mann's daughter Lisa Mann Marotta gave a heartfelt speech.
After the speech, string orchestra with 33 artists had begun. They played Beethoven: String Quartet No.16 in F Major, Op. 135, third movement, and Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Op. 130 5th movement Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo as an encore. Before Cavatina, Suyoen Kim (violin) and Tomoko Akasaka (viola) said they'd dedicate this performance to Mr. Mann.
OMF Director Seiji Ozawa refreins from coming to Matsumoto due to serious back pain. He had a skype meeting with Chamber Concert I artists at rehearsal on Aug. 18 and wished them all the good luck.
Rehearsals for Orchestra Concerts start from Aug. 22 (wed)! Please look forward the wonderful sound the Saito Kinen Orchestra make with conductors Diego Matheuz, Kazuyoshi Akiyama and Kensho Watanabe.
＜Aug. 19 (Sun) Chamber Concert I -Robert Mann Memorial Concert- Curtain call>
Every year since it’s beginning in 1992, the Nagano prefecture residents welcome the festival and its guests with a colorful parade going through historic downtown Matsumoto, which ends in a joint concert with festival conductor in the Honmaru Garden, a National treasure of Matsumoto Castle.
