Suntory Hall Summer Festival 2019

Suntory Hall Summer Festival 2019, the annual focus on international contemporary music, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Suntory Foundation of the Arts. This year’s festival takes place from 23 to 31 Aug, and highlights include the Japanese premiere of George Benjamin’s highly acclaimed opera Written on Skin conducted by Kazushi Ono, and the world premiere of a new work for violin and orchestra by Swiss composer Michael Jarrell (commissioned by Suntory Hall) with celebrated French violinist Renaud Capuçon. As in previous years, the festival consists of three different strands: The Producer Series, Theme Composer as part of the Suntory Hall International Programme for Music Composition series, and Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition.

George Benjamin (Photo credit: Matthew Lloyd)

Michael Jarrell (Photo credit: C. Daguet, Editions Henry Lemoine)

This year’s programme is as follows:

The Producer Series: Kazushi Ono

Suntory Hall welcomes internationally renowned conductor Kazushi Ono to curate the Producer Series. Ono, currently the director of opera at the New National Theatre Tokyo, has chosen to stage the much-awaited Japanese premiere of George Benjamin’s opera Written on Skin on 28 and 29 Aug. Originally premiered at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2012, the work has become one of the most frequently performed of 21st century operas. Ono himself will conduct and the cast includes American baritone Andrew Schroeder in the role of the Protector, Danish coloratura soprano Susanne Elmark as Agnès, and leading Japanese countertenor Daichi Fujiki as the Boy. It will be semi-staged with creative direction and design by Shizuka Hariu.

Kazushi Ono

Alongside the opera performances, Ono has devised a chamber music concert which features recent compositions by eminent international composers including Mark-Anthony Turnage, Toshio Hosokawa and Salvatore Sciarrino on 24 Aug.

Suntory Hall International Program for Music Composition

Inaugurated in 1987 under the supervision of Toru Takemitsu, and each year, it invites a different Theme Composer and commissions him/her a new orchestral work that was premiered during the Summer Festival. This year’s theme composer, chosen by the current series supervisor Toshio Hosokawa, is Michael Jarrell, widely regarded as the most important Swiss composer of his generation. In fact, Hosokawa and Jarrell have known each other since their student days over thirty years ago, and Hosokawa says that Jarrell’s technical skill of notating music is second to none.

Renaud Capucon (Photo credit: Simon Fowler Erato)

There are two concerts featuring Jarrell’s music: the chamber music concert presents his solo and ensemble works of the last 30 years on 26 Aug, and the orchestral concert includes the world premiere of his new work for violin and orchestra, with Renaud Capuçon as soloist and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pascal Rophé on 30 Aug. Furthermore, Jarrell will lead a compositional workshop where he will give advice to young aspiring composers on 25 Aug. This event is open to the public.

More about the International Programme for Music Composition can be found here.

Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition

The third strand of the Summer Festival is the Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition on 31 Aug. Founded in honor of the composer Yasushi Akutagawa in 1990, the award is known as the gateway to success for up-and-coming Japanese composers. Following the performance of three nominated works (chosen from orchestral compositions premiered during the previous year), the judging process is held on stage in public. The winner receives JPY1,500,000 as well as a commission for a new orchestral work to be performed in 2021.

The works of this year’s three finalists, Yasutaki Inamori, Hiromichi Kitazume and Haruyuki Suzuki, will be performed by Yoichi Sugiyama and the New Japan Philharmonic, preceded by the world premiere of the commissioned work Memory of Clouds for Violoncello and Orchestra by Hirofumi Mogi, winner in 2017. This year’s judges are Yumi Saiki, Yûta Bandoh and Satoshi Minami.

Full listings of the Summer Festival 2019 can be found here.