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Marek Janowski, who made his Bayreuth debut at 77, is retiring from the Tokyo-Harusai (Spring Festival in Tokyo) this year, at 87. For his farewell he chose Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder. Music journalist Marsha Lin looks back on 17 years of cherry blossoms and Wagner in Ueno. (From “Notebook of Sounds,” File 9, Hon no Machi, June 2026 issue)
When the cherry blossoms bloom, you go to Ueno to hear Wagner. For music lovers, the Wagner series of the Tokyo-Harusai has become a seasonal tradition. It began in 2010, and this year marked its 17th edition. Although three seasons were canceled because of the 2011 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic, the series has presented all ten works from The Flying Dutchman onward, every one in concert form. With world-renowned conductors and singers delivering world-class performances, the series has played a major role in how Wagner is received in Japan, the article writes.
A Conductor Who Debuted at Bayreuth at 77
Among the conductors who appeared, the one who drew the most attention was Marek Janowski. From 2014 to 2017 he conducted all four parts of The Ring of the Nibelung: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. In the same period (2016 and 2017), he was also invited to conduct the Ring at the Bayreuth Festival, Wagner’s spiritual home. A master who had made his name with leading orchestras and opera houses thus made his Bayreuth debut at the age of 77.
The author then recounts a scene she witnessed at Bayreuth in 2017.
I hadn’t planned to see Janowski’s Ring at Bayreuth in 2017, but the conductor of Parsifal suddenly fell ill, and for that one day only, Janowski took over.
He had finished the first of three Ring cycles only two days earlier, and there was no rehearsal. The four Ring operas together run close to 16 hours, and Parsifal is itself a monumental work of more than four hours. “Singers perhaps, but I never imagined a conductor would take on both at once,” the author writes.
And yet, that day’s performance…
That day, too, the tempos were brisk overall and his coordination with the singers was superb. In the “Good Friday Spell” in Act III, I was entranced by a sound so beautiful it seemed not of this world. It was also striking that when the maestro finally appeared at the curtain call, he received the warmest applause of all.
His Final Choice: Gurre-Lieder
This year, Janowski retires from the Tokyo-Harusai. For his final program he chose Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, a colossal work for an orchestra expanded to some 150 players, with soloists and chorus. Dense orchestral writing, songs that pour out emotion as in an opera, the clear sound of the chorus: the 87-year-old maestro filled the vast space of Tokyo Bunka Kaikan with rich, abundant sound and brought his time at the festival to a glorious close.
Tokyo Bunka Kaikan closes for renovation from May for about three years; during that time, the Tokyo-Harusai will be held at several concert halls around Tokyo and at museums in Ueno.
The full article is available in the June issue PDF.
Marsha Lin
Music journalist, covering mainly opera and classical music. She writes the series “Notebook of Sounds” for Hon no Machi.
This article introduces File 9 of “Notebook of Sounds” by Marsha Lin (music journalist), published in the June 2026 issue (Vol. 14) of Hon no Machi, the community salon magazine of Kanda, Ochanomizu and Jimbocho.
▶Read the June 2026 issue of Hon no Machi (PDF, in Japanese)
Founded in 1980, Hon no Machi brings you the latest from Book Town every month, together with Jimbocho’s bookstores, publishers, cafés and galleries.
▶ For other installments of “Notebook of Sounds,” see All installments
日本語で読む — Read this article in Japanese