Report on the press conference announcing the appointment of Kah-Chung Wong as the next Principal Conductor

On Wednesday, May 18, 2022, a press conference was held at Maru Building Hall & Conference Square to discuss the future conducting structure of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you from the music and media industries for attending the press conference. Below is a report of the contents of the press conference.

Chairman Hirai Toshikuni's press conference

The Japan Philharmonic Orchestra will welcome Kah-Chun Wong (currently Principal Guest Conductor) as its Principal Conductor from September 2023. The term is scheduled to be five years.

We plan to perform approximately 12 concerts per year, including three Tokyo regular concerts at Suntory Hall. We hope to bring music to various parts of Japan, including Kyushu, and also aim to travel to Asian countries that the Japan Philharmonic has not yet visited. We hope that the orchestra will not only perform orchestral concerts, but also actively participate in the organization's distinctive social contributions, educational and community activities, and the "Music for Disaster Areas" initiative in the Tohoku region. With the end of current Principal Conductor Pietari Inkinen's term in August 2023, the Japan Philharmonic has been eager to encounter new talent, and we are delighted to have found such a wonderful maestro at this time. We look forward to his leadership in both artistic and social aspects.
Please look forward to the future of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and its next chief conductor, Kah-Chung Wong, who is a modernist yet carries on the good old traditions.

What Kah Chun Wong and the Japan Philharmonic are aiming for(Yukihiro Masumi, Deputy Secretary General/Director of Planning and Production Department)　

I believe that every orchestra and hall is in the same situation, creating and destroying their own plans during this COVID-19 pandemic, but I believe that being able to announce such good news in this situation will energize both orchestras and the industry.

Born in Singapore in 1986, Kah-Chun Wong's classical music background began with trumpet and composition, and he is now a world-renowned conductor. What makes him so fascinating as a conductor is that he is a globally acclaimed modernist, based in Europe, Japan, Singapore, and, more recently, the United States (where he made his debut with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra). Yet, he was also mentored by 20th-century master Kurt Masur, and is a conductor who, while contemporary, also inherits the finest traditions of the past. He is truly a fascinating maestro. Wong, also a composer, conducts with his unique interpretations, backed by thorough score analysis, bringing his unique interpretations to the orchestra and audience. Rather than simply "tampering" with the score, he always awakens us to the secrets and new aspects of the score. For example, the captivating inner voices and the expressions revealed by his unique tempo settings, which deeply stimulate our ears, even as they become accustomed to routine. The expressive method that underpins these achievements is the result of Mr. Karczun's unique experience, intellect, and sense, and his thorough sense of balance is unparalleled. I hope you will also listen to his upcoming CD of Mahler's 5th Symphony. I'm sure you will hear a sound that is different from the Mahler we are used to hearing.

The Japan Philharmonic Orchestra has built a history with each conductor displaying their unique individuality. With Mr. Wong, Mahler, his life's work, is one of the major pillars of his work. The maestro is also the winner of the conducting competition named after Mahler, and he shares a very strong bond with Mahler's granddaughter, Marina Mahler. These experiences have fostered new perspectives.

Another key element is the perspective on Asia, including Japan, that only a conductor born in Singapore and an orchestra founded in Japan can offer. Starting in 2022 and 2023, we will focus on works by leading Japanese composer Akira Ifukube and his student Yasushi Akutagawa. Both composers have a dynamic style characterized by the repetitive rhythm known as the "ostinata," and their music evokes a pan-Asian scale that transcends the boundaries of Japan. Going forward, we hope to broaden our focus beyond Japanese composers and focus on lesser-known music from across Asia.
Another theme is "ethnic and folk music." This will introduce classical works with roots in world folk music, not just Asian. The current lineup includes works by Bartók, Janáček, and Myaskovsky. This is an area that other conductors are reluctant to tackle, and I believe it is something only a maestro can do.

Based on this concept, we hope to eventually perform not only in Kyushu, where we have continued for nearly half a century, but also in every corner of Japan and overseas, including Singapore. As you all know, the Japan Philharmonic is a socially conscious orchestra. In addition to the three pillars of the orchestra—"orchestral concerts"—I would like to have the Maestro involved in other important activities, such as "education programs" and "regional activities." The Maestro himself plays the trumpet and composes music for wind orchestras. I hope to use these opportunities to provide instruction and hold concerts for junior and senior high school students across the country. I would also like to join in the "Music for Disaster Areas" initiative, which has been running since 2011, bringing music to areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. I also think it would be interesting to export these educational activities to Asia. In fact, we held workshops for local children during our performance in Hong Kong in 2011 and our visit to Finland in 2019. These are also strengths of the Japan Philharmonic, and I look forward to working with the Maestro in these activities. What makes me happiest is that the maestro is also very interested in things other than orchestral activities like this.

We are confident that we can move forward together in these areas, including the performance and social aspects, artistic and social aspects, and Maestro shares this view. It is with these delicate considerations in mind that we have decided to welcome Maestro as our Principal Conductor.

Greetings from the next Chief Conductor, Kah-Chun Wong

Hello everyone. Thank you for coming today. I am very happy to be able to meet you all in this way.

These past few days have been a real roller coaster ride. I had to travel to so many different places, and last week I performed two concerts with the Japan Philharmonic. And my baby was supposed to be born on May 10th. Then it got pushed back to the 16th, but I still didn't want him to come out. And he was finally born about 13 hours ago, around 1:00 AM on May 18th.
May 18th will always remain a special day for me. First, it's the day my son was born. Then it's the day I held this press conference. And, and I believe this is pure fate, it's the anniversary of Gustav Mahler's death. He also passed away on May 18th. I spoke with Mahler's granddaughter, Marina, and she was also very moved. She said that it must have been some kind of magic that her son was born on May 18th.

On May 27th and 28th, I will be performing Mahler's Symphony No. 4 at Suntory Hall. This is a special piece, and while there are many interpretations, it reflects on childhood and how a child views heaven. When I heard the news that my wife was pregnant, I had this concert in mind and felt a little anxious. There are two possible interpretations: one is that it represents a lost child, so it's connected to heaven. The other is that it represents the feelings of an innocent child, dreaming of heaven or a beautiful world without prejudice. I think both interpretations are possible, but when I was talking to Marina, she said that my grandfather Mahler's music speaks to the truth of nature, not of good or evil. This piece also reflects childhood, and perhaps this refers to the child in the womb, or perhaps to the child within us as adults. Therefore, I believe Mahler's Symphony No. 4 is a very profound piece of music. I believe this whole process has helped me grow into a better musician.

About the sound of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra

The Japan Philharmonic has a wonderful, unique sound. I believe we can further enhance this sound. There are many great orchestras in the world today, but they all tend to sound similar. I want to protect the Japan Philharmonic's unique sound and help it grow. I feel that we have the potential to create our own unique sound. I would be extremely happy if we can establish a sound-making style during our five years with the Japan Philharmonic.

Tradition and Innovation of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra

I'm also paying attention to the paradox of Japan. Everyone is desperately trying to preserve tradition, but at the same time, there's also an aspect of incorporating modernity. I think this can be seen not only in music, but in many other aspects, such as food and culture. I said that the Japan Philharmonic has great potential, and while they preserve classical traditions and performances of the past, they also embrace new things and technology, including recordings and new social media, and how they distribute and preserve their music. I think they also have potential in an innovative sense.

Japan Philharmonic Orchestra's response to social demands

The Japan Philharmonic is an organization with social significance, and this is an aspect that I find very appealing. Last summer, I had the opportunity to see the various projects that the organization was involved in. There was a project for children (Summer Vacation Concert) and a project to cultivate new audiences using the five senses (Yoichi Ochiai x Japan Philharmonic Project). Of course, the Japan Philharmonic also visits Tohoku and has educational programs in other regions, which I find very appealing.
Of course, concerts in concert halls are special. However, as artists, we must create and offer beautiful things to all people in the world. People include children and the elderly. I would like to think of ways to enable everyone to experience beautiful music.

This is a long journey that has only just begun. I would like to continue to learn more about the orchestra and think about what I can do for it. I look forward to seeing you all in the concert hall.

-Q&A session

Question 1: These pieces were all created by Japanese composers struggling with how to accept Western culture. Could you tell us what you felt about that and how you intend to present it to us?

This is also a personal project for me. My home country, Singapore, is a very young country, just over 50 years old. About 10 years ago, questions like "what is our culture?" began to arise in Singapore. As a composer, I struggled with how to define our music. We also have a folk music culture, but is it the culture of the Malay Peninsula? Or is it the culture of the various immigrants who came from China and India a few generations ago? Even defining it was extremely difficult. I found the answer in Japanese music. I imagined that similar questions were plaguing you all about 70 years ago. I discovered many new things when listening to the music of Fumio Hayasaka, Akira Ifukube, and Yasushi Akutagawa. Listening to this music, I realized that composers struggled with how to express Japanese culture while using Western traditions. The piece "Etsutenraku (arranged by Konoe Hidemaro)" also uses a Western symphony orchestra to create a sound reminiscent of gagaku. I can hear the sounds of the sho, among other instruments, performed by woodwind instruments. And in Ifukube's Ritomica Ostinata, which we will be performing soon, the use of fourths and fifths has a very gagaku-like sound. Studying Japanese classical music is extremely beneficial for a Southeast Asian musician like me. I would like to explore approaches to these masterpieces together with the orchestra. In some cases, the orchestra knows the piece well, so I am sometimes in a position to learn from them. I would like to perform these masterpieces in the same way as Mahler, Beethoven, and Brahms. This is not a world premiere, and we already know that it is a wonderful piece, and we would like to present it to you alongside a Western program. It's not a question of whether it is better or worse than Western music.

As we begin our exploration of a wide variety of music, we have approached it from the perspective of folk music. We have included Ifukube, Akutagawa, Bartók, Janáček, and others. This kind of endeavor is still at the starting point, and I believe it will continue to evolve. I'm not sure what form it will take, but perhaps in a few years, a composer's academy will be established, and Asia will become a place where young people write many new pieces. Perhaps one day the Japan Philharmonic will become a cultural mentor and teacher for all of you.

Question 2: It goes without saying that we are in a very difficult situation, with communication broken down and wars even breaking out. I think that the creation of communication that you mentioned is more important than ever. Given this situation, I would like you to once again share your beliefs.

What can artists do in times like these? I believe we have entered truly challenging times in recent years. I'm sure you're all feeling the effects of these times in your daily lives. I'm currently 35, soon to turn 36. This makes me relatively young as a conductor. I haven't experienced many major hardships until now. But as an artist, it pains me deeply to see the world today. However, this is not the first time something like this has happened in human history. In the late 1700s, we had Napoleon, Beethoven composed "Eroica" and "Wellington's Victory," and more recently, R. Strauss wrote "Metamorphosis," and Stravinsky was born. Wonderful pieces have been created in response to each era. I, along with many other artists, am also living in a challenging time, but at the same time, it is a deeply moving time. This is neither good nor bad. My heart is deeply moved, and I feel things deeply. What is the purpose of this world? Even if there are people who harm each other, it is also human beings who create the wonderful, beautiful music we perform in concerts. These are the thoughts I spend my days thinking about these things.

Question 3: I've heard that Mahler is a special composer. Could you tell me how you first encountered Mahler's music and what works you had conducted before entering the Mahler Competition?

My first encounter with Mahler was playing his works as a trumpeter. I think what attracts me to his music is its multifaceted nature and the way it incorporates various cultures. Being from Singapore, I'm also familiar with the diversity of the region I've lived in, and I really resonated with that. Mahler's Symphony No. 6 is one example. And in the Fourth Symphony, there's the sound of bells, Mahler's beloved funeral march, heaven, hell, animals, and so many other things. Mahler's music is full of elements. I'm also drawn to the idea that everything can become music. The Mahler Conducting Competition included a required piece, Mahler's Symphony No. 3, which I love. Other pieces included Dutilleux, Webern, Haas, and Haydn's Symphony No. 44, so the program placed Mahler at the center of various eras. And No. 3 is a very interesting piece, expressing everything I love about it. It consists of six movements: the first is the creation of the world, the second is the music of trees and flowers, the third is animals, the fourth is humans, the fifth is angels, and the sixth is love. I really like how the music expands in a way that seems to overwrite the entire human stage. There was also a finale, a seventh movement, but he decided not to include it in Symphony No. 3 and instead included it in the finale of Symphony No. 4. This is Symphony No. 4, which leads to this performance (May 27th and 28th).

Question 4: Please tell us about the maestro's personal background and the music scene in Singapore. How did he become a musician? You mentioned that Singapore is a young country, so please tell us about Singapore as a country.

Singapore is changing so rapidly that when I return after a year and a half away, I'm greeted by a plethora of new buildings and a sense of being a total tourist. I've been away from Singapore for a long time, so I'm not sure if this information is up-to-date, but as far as I know, there's one professional orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. There's also an orchestra using Chinese instruments. There's also a music college. It's a national university founded about 20 years ago, and I'm a graduate of it. I think there are also one or two art schools. Singapore's music scene is incredibly diverse, and classical music is only a small part of its culture. Cultural diversity is also divided into Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Western. Even within China, people from many different regions live, making it a country with a very vivid ethnic identity.

As for myself, I grew up in a very ordinary family. No one in my family was a musician. I happened to join the brass band in the first grade of elementary school. My math teacher was in charge of the brass band, and since there weren't enough students, he handed out papers to everyone saying they wanted to join the band and asked them to get their parents to sign them, so that's how I joined. I was too young to play the trombone or tuba, so I could only play the cornet. I switched to the trumpet when I entered junior high school. I continued playing in the brass band until I graduated from high school. Brass bands are a part of our culture, something we learned from Japan. Brass bands are very popular in Japan.

After graduating from high school, I served in the military for two years, as Singapore has a conscription system. I spent the first three months undergoing basic training, learning things like shooting and bomb handling, before joining the military band. I played the bugle. It was completely different from performing in a concert hall; I had to play while marching, which required skill. It was also a valuable experience to play music for a festival, with a specific goal in mind. There are many different marches, including fast ones, slow ones, and funeral marches, and how they actually affect people. Many people, including Radetzky, Sousa, and Mahler, have written marches, but I learned that the way tempo is handled varies by culture. For example, American marches are faster, while British ones are slower due to the larger movements. These are things you don't learn in music college, so these two years were a valuable experience.

I then went to a music college to study composition. At the time, there was no conducting department. There were plenty of composers, but no one to perform them. Naturally, I ended up conducting. The orchestra was full of students, so they gathered quickly. In the end, as long as we had pizza and Coke, everyone was happy to play. During my four years as a student, I performed all of Beethoven's works, all of Brahms's, and about three Schumann pieces. My conducting teachers were by no means professional; they were my fellow students. If it was a string player, they'd point out that I needed to breathe more with the bow in a certain part. If it was a wind player, they'd tell me, "The tempo isn't stable, so do this." So, perhaps my perspective on music is a little unusual. I spent those four years focused not on how to use my hands, but on how to communicate with other musicians. Then I went to Berlin and met Kurt Masur, who was a truly intimidating teacher. He taught me everything I needed to know about being a conductor. It wasn't about what a conductor should do, but rather about what a person should be like. I met my wife at a master class at Senzoku Gakuen in 2012. Kurt Masur and his wife Tomoko introduced me to my wife.

Q5: In your experience performing and interpreting classical music, have you found Singapore's diversity to be an advantage?

I believe diversity is my identity. I don't think it's bad or good. If someone is born in Europe, that becomes their identity. I think that's normal. My identity is diversity and inclusion itself. When I encounter different cultures, I always approach them with respect. I think it develops a mindset of wanting to learn something from them.

Question 6: You communicate closely with the musicians, so please tell us if there are any principles that you hold dear when creating music.

The orchestra members and I have a strong commonality. That is the score. Whether it's Mahler or Ifukube, we share the score. That's the connection we have. So, although we musicians may have a similar fate, we share this common bond. And through this score, I believe I can overcome diversity from my position as a musician.

Photo: Yoshida Takayuki

"Upcoming Concerts"
■740rd Tokyo Regular Concert
Friday, September 27th and Saturday, September 28th, 2022, Suntory Hall
Piano: Keigo Tsugawa*
Soprano: Rie Miyake**
Akira Ifukube: Ritomica Ostinata for piano and orchestra*
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major**
[Streaming] https://members.tvuch.com/member/classic/161/

■135th Saitama Regular Concert
Saturday, January 14, 2023, Saitama Kaikan
■ The 399th Masterpiece Concert
January 15, 2023 (Sun) Suntory Hall
Guitar: Muraji Kaori
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"

■747rd Tokyo Regular Concert
January 20th (Fri) and 21st (Sat), 2023, Suntory Hall
Akira Ifukube: Sinfonia Tapkara
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra

■384th Yokohama Regular Concert
Saturday, September 28, 2023 Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall
■ The 244th Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Series
Sunday, September 29, 2023 Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre
Piano: Yu Kosuge
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2

■750rd Tokyo Regular Concert
Friday, September 12th and Saturday, September 13th, 2023, Suntory Hall
Cello: Haruma Sato
Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 21 "Symphonic Fantasy"
Akutagawa Yasushi: Concerto Ostinato for Cello and Orchestra
Janacek: Sinfonietta

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