Toshio Hosokawa (Foto: Kaz Ishikawa)
Creative Chair 2022/23

Toshio Hosokawa

Composer / *1955 Hiroshima

With his music, Toshio Hosokawa builds bridges between the traditional culture of his Japanese homeland and the western avantgarde, which he studied in Germany from the 1970s onwards. He will be our Creative Chair in the 2022/23 season.

Born in Hiroshima in 1955, Toshio Hosokawa is the best-known contemporary Japanese composer. And yet his horizons are much broader, for he began an intense exploration of the western avant-garde as long ago as 1976 – thanks to his teachers Isang Yun and Klaus Huber. His Japanese roots are apparent both in his music and his aesthetic.

Sounds and silence

Toshio Hosokawa’s perspective on music is at once restrictive and sweeping when he declares, «Music is the place where sounds and silence meet.» This stems from his awareness that sound and silence are mutually dependent. Without light there can be no shade. A sense of ritual and the spiritual is also inherent to his world of musical thought: «We hear the individual sounds and at the same time appreciate the process of how they are born and die away – a resounding, self-contained, animated landscape of genesis, as it were.»

Global meeting place

Toshio Hosokawa has already received many accolades for his ability to create «animated landscapes» in music – most recently in 2021, when he was awarded the Goethe Medal. «With his compositions, Hosokawa opens up spaces and connects people all over the world. The special sound of his music is transcendent and transforms the concert hall into a global meeting place,» is how the jury explained their decision. Global events («Meditation to the victims of Tsunami (3.11.)») thus find their way into his compositions to the same extent as intimate, personal moments, such as when he contemplates a lotus flower («Blossoming»).

The qi of the organ

Hosokawa’s musical tools range from the classical string quartet to traditional Japanese instruments such as the shô mouth organ, from a large orchestra to the concert hall organ. In his work entitled «Embrace – Light and Shade» for organ and orchestra, for example, the «flow of qi» – the origin of life in its two manifestations of yin and yang – initially interacts within the organ before «flowing into the various orchestral instruments.» Immerse yourself in Toshio Hosokawa’s special world of sound throughout the season. You can also experience him as a charismatic speaker at the Museum Rietberg as well as a sensitive teacher at Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste).

Every season, we invite an important composer to be our Creative Chair. Prepare to be astonished and moved by the music of our time. Our previous Creative Chairs:

  • John Adams 2021/22 – USA
  • Arvo Pärt 2020/21 – Estonia
  • Erkki-Sven Tüür 2019/20 – Estonia
  • Matthias Pintscher 2018/19 – Germany/USA
  • Brett Dean 2017/18 – Australia
  • Péter Eötvös 2016/17 – Hungary
  • Jörg Widmann 2015/16 – Germany
  • Esa-Pekka Salonen 2014/15 – Finland

No results

July 2023
Sat 01. Jul
19.30

Kosmos Organ – Christian Schmitt

Christian Schmitt Orgel Bach, Hosokawa, Widor, Ligeti, Reger
June
Fri 30. Jun
19.30

Jakub Hrůša with Hosokawa and Suk

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Jakub Hrůša Conductor, Christian Schmitt Orgel Hosokawa, Suk
Thu 29. Jun
19.30

Jakub Hrůša with Hosokawa and Suk

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Jakub Hrůša Conductor, Christian Schmitt Orgel Hosokawa, Suk
May
Thu 25. May
12.15

Chamber Music Lunch Concert

Ilios Quartett, Thomas García Violine, Seiko Périsset-Morishita Violine, Paul Westermayer Viola, Anita Federli-Rutz Violoncello Borodin, Hosokawa, Smetana
March
Thu 30. Mar
19.30

Yuja Wang spielt Rachmaninow

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi Music Director, Yuja Wang Klavier Hosokawa, Rachmaninow
AUSVERKAUFT
Wed 29. Mar
19.30

Yuja Wang spielt Rachmaninow

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi Music Director, Yuja Wang Klavier Hosokawa, Rachmaninow
AUSVERKAUFT
Sun 26. Mar
11.15

Literatur und Musik – Sebastian Rudolph

Sabine Poyé Morel Flöte, Altflöte, Sarah Verrue Harfe, Hendrik Heilmann Klavier, Klaus Schwärzler Perkussion, Sebastian Rudolph Lesung, Stefan Zweifel Einführung Hosokawa, Nicolas Bouvier
Fri 03. Mar
19.30

Kent Nagano with Bruckner

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Kent Nagano Conductor, Andreas Berger Perkussion, Benjamin Forster Perkussion, Christian Hartmann Perkussion, Klaus Schwärzler Perkussion Bach, Hosokawa, Bruckner
Thu 02. Mar
19.30

Kent Nagano with Bruckner

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Kent Nagano Conductor, Andreas Berger Perkussion, Benjamin Forster Perkussion, Christian Hartmann Perkussion, Klaus Schwärzler Perkussion Bach, Hosokawa, Bruckner
Wed 01. Mar
19.30

Kent Nagano with Bruckner

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Kent Nagano Conductor, Andreas Berger Perkussion, Benjamin Forster Perkussion, Christian Hartmann Perkussion, Klaus Schwärzler Perkussion Bach, Hosokawa, Bruckner
February
Thu 09. Feb
12.15

Kammermusik-Lunchkonzert

Haika Lübcke Flöte, Piccolo, Bassflöte, Elisabeth Harringer-Pignat Violine, Cathrin Kudelka Violine, Antonia Siegers-Reid Viola, Paul Handschke Violoncello, Naomi Sato Shô, Hendrik Heilmann Klavier, Cembalo Couperin, Vivaldi, Rameau, Fürstenberg, Damaré, Strauss (Vater), Janáček, Kurtág, Messiaen, Hosokawa, Strauss (Sohn)
January
Sun 08. Jan
14.15

Familienkonzert – Deine Freunde aus der Ferne

Izabelė Jankauskaitė Conductor, Salome Kammer Sprecherin, Haika Lübcke Flöten, Diego Baroni Klarinetten, Yukiko Ishibashi Violine, Katarzyna Kitrasiewicz-Łosiewicz Viola, Christian Proske Violoncello, Christian Hartmann Schlagzeug, Hendrik Heilmann Klavier, Nelly Danker Regie, Veronika Schmederer Kostüme, Robert Pflanz Videodesign, Ausstattung, Yōko Tawada Autor*in Deine Freunde aus der Ferne
Sun 08. Jan
11.15

Familienkonzert – Deine Freunde aus der Ferne

Izabelė Jankauskaitė Conductor, Salome Kammer Sprecherin, Haika Lübcke Flöten, Diego Baroni Klarinetten, Yukiko Ishibashi Violine, Katarzyna Kitrasiewicz-Łosiewicz Viola, Christian Proske Violoncello, Christian Hartmann Schlagzeug, Hendrik Heilmann Klavier, Nelly Danker Regie, Veronika Schmederer Kostüme, Robert Pflanz Videodesign, Ausstattung, Yōko Tawada Autor*in Deine Freunde aus der Ferne
December 2022
Thu 08. Dec
12.15

Kammermusik-Lunchkonzert

Isabelle Weilbach-Lambelet Violine, Katja Fuchs Viola, Anita Leuzinger Violoncello, Frank Sanderell Kontrabass, Anton Kernjak Klavier Hosokawa, Schubert
November
Fri 25. Nov
19.30

Rudolf Buchbinder – Klavierrezital

Rudolf Buchbinder Klavier Diabelli, Neue Variationen, Variationen aus dem "Vaterländischen Künstlerverein", Beethoven
October
Thu 06. Oct
12.15

Kammermusik-Lunchkonzert

Schweizer Oktett, Jens Lohmann Violine, Paul Scharf Violine, Michel Willi Viola, Christian Proske Violoncello, Gallus Burkard Kontrabass, Fabio di Càsola Klarinette, Maria Wildhaber Fagott, Mischa Greull Horn Hosokawa, Wagner
September
Sat 17. Sep
16.00

Gesprächskonzert mit Toshio Hosokawa

Toshio Hosokawa Komponist – Creative Chair, Gastkurator, Loewe Quartett, Bastian Loewe Violine, Livia Berchtold Violine, Silas Zschocke Viola, Alina Morger Violoncello, Khanh Trinh Verantwortliche Sammlungen Japan im Museum Rietberg, Co-Kuratorin, Annette Bhagwati Direktorin Museum Rietberg, Moderation Hosokawa
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