News
- ARD Competition 2024
At the renowned ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Pacific Quintet won 2nd prize and the audience prize as a wind quintet.
- Debut Album
The Debut Album of the Pacific Quintet is out now available on all streaming platforms and in stores.
- Pacific Quintet: Prizewinner of Festspiele MV
The Pacific Quintet has been awarded with the Ensemble Prize of the „Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern“ 2023. After playing an outstanding chamber music concert at the festival this Summer, they are receiving the Prize, donated by the „NORDMETALL-Stiftung“.
https://festspiele-mv.de/intern/aktuelles/aktuelle/die-neuen-preistraegerinnen-stehen-fest/
Vita
Liana Leßmann is a Bremen-based clarinet player, born in 1994.
Sought after as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra player, Liana has performed widely in Europe and Asia. Highlights include concerts in the Berliner Philharmonie, the Suntory Hall Tokyo and the Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti Modena .
As soloist, Liana has performed Weber’s and Mozart’s clarinet concertos and John Adams’ “Gnarly Buttons” with orchestras such as the Kammerorchester Hannover, the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker.
As a two-year-member in the Karajan-Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Liana played various concerts alongside with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, enjoying the support and guidance of the orchestra’s members. Since successfully completing the Academy, Liana has been invited to perform as a guest with the orchestra several times.
In demand as a substitute in orchestras Liana has also appeared with the Staatskapelle Dresden, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and the Orchestra Da Camera Di Mantova. She played under many notable conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Paavo Järvi, Kiril Petrenko, Valery Gergiev, Andris Nelsons and Alan Gilbert.
Liana has been invited to international festivals like the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, the Krzyzowa Music Festival in Poland and the IMPULS Festival for contemporary music. Since 2016, she is a member of the chamber orchestra ensemble reflektor.
As a committed chamber musician, Liana has collaborated with Sabine Meyer, Reiner Wehle, Dag Jensen, Daniel Sepec, Simon Bernardini, Viviane Hagner, Naoko Shimizu and Janne Saksala among many others. In 2018 she was a Co-Founder of the ensemble “Pacific Quintet”, a woodwind quintet based in Berlin.
Liana has been awarded prizes in several competitions as both a soloist and with the Pacific Quintet, including the 2nd Prize at the “Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition 2019” in Copenhagen, the “Ruhrpreis for Art and Science”, the 1st prize in the north district “Lions Music competition” and prizes for clarinet and piano at “Jugend musiziert.”
Born in Bremen, Liana began to study clarinet at the age of 16 in the Folkwang University of the Arts with Andreas Merten. She continued her studies at the Musikhochschule Lübeck with Sabine Meyer and at the Universität der Künste Berlin with François Benda. In 2018, she moved for one year to Genève to study with Romain Guyot. Since 2020, she has been pursuing a Master’s Degree in Chamber Music with the Pacific Quintet at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin with Martin Spangenberg.
In addition, she has taken part in master classes with Karl Leister, Ralph Manno, Jens Thoben, Eduard Brunner, Alessandro Carbonare, Eberhard Feltz and Kilian Herold among others.
In 2021 Liana won the 1st prize in the music competition “Ton & Erklärung” (Sound & Explanation) with the Pacific Quintet.
In 2022 Liana was playing as Co-Principal Clarinetist in the Symphony Orchestra of Düsseldorf.
Since the beginning of season 2022/23 Liana is a member of the Bremer Philharmoniker.
In 2024 the Pacific Quintet was awarded the 2nd Prize and the Audience Award in the international ARD Music Competition.
Pacific Quintet
„This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.“
Leonard Bernstein
2nd prize and Audience Award winners of the international ARD Competition 2024, 1st prize winners of the “Ton & Erklärung 2021” (Sound & Explanation) Competition of the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy and 2nd prize winners of the “Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition 2019” in Copenhagen, the Pacific Quintet celebrated their debut concert in the Chamber Music Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin in 2019.
The Pacific Quintet met in 2017 at the Pacific Music Festival, founded by Leonard Bernstein in Sapporo, Japan. Inspired by the passionate attention to music, the intercultural exchange and the respectful company with each other at the festival, the five musicians decided to carry Bernstein’s spirit to Europe and founded the Pacific Quintet in Berlin. Because its members hail from Honduras, Japan, Russia, South Korea and Germany, tolerance and inclusion is of utmost importance to the Pacific Quintet. This ensemble strives to use music as a means of communication in order to make the wealth of different cultures, origins and traditions visible to all, amidst a society in which fear of the foreign and blanket condemnation based on stereotypes are gaining more relevance again.
The members of the Pacific Quintet studied at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, the University of the Arts Berlin and the Karajan-Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Renowned artists such as Christian Wetzel, Nick Deutsch, Christian-Friedrich Dahlmann and Wenzel Fuchs have supported the Ensemble with their guidance. Since 2020, the Pacific Quintet has studied chamber music with Martin Spangenberg at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.
In addition to their dedication to chamber music, the musicians are performing with many orchestras including the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the WDR Symphonieorchester, the Bremer Philharmoniker and the Japan National Orchestra.
Aliya Vodovozova (Flute), Fernando Martinez Zavala (Oboe), Liana Leßmann (Clarinet), Kenichi Furuya (Bassoon), Haeree Yoo (Horn)
Concerts
Wed, 11. June 2025
19:00hDüsseldorfPalais WittgensteinSchumannfestBernstein,Overture to „Candide“
Tomasi, Five Dances Profanes et Sacrees
Jolivet, Sérenade
Beamish, The Naming of the Birds
Françaix, Quintet Nr. 1Pacific Quintet
Mon, 24. March 2025
19:00hMannheimRosengartenBruckner, f-Moll Messe
SWR Symphonieorchester, Pablo Heras-CasadoSun, 23. March 2025
19:00hFreiburgKonzerthausBruckner, f-Moll Messe
SWR Symphonieorchester, Pablo Heras-CasadoFri, 21. March 2025
20:00hStuttgartLiederhalleBrucker, f-Moll Messe
SWR Symphonieorchester, Pablo Heras-CasadoThu, 20. March 2025
20:00hLiederhalleBruckner, f-Moll-Messe
SWR Symphonieorchester, Pablo Heras-CasadoSat, 15. March 2025
19:30hMünsterTheater MünsterLa Bohème – Puccini
Sat, 8. March 2025
10:00hAthensMasterclass for the Underground Youth Orchestra AthensFri, 7. March 2025
10:00hAthensMasterclass for the Underground Youth Orchestra AthensSat, 22. February 2025
20:00hBerlinPhilharmonieOuti Tarkiainen, Day Night Day
Brett Dean, Fire Music für Orchester (Deutsche Erstaufführung)
Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, Suite
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Nr. 10 »Rasga o coração« für Orchester und gemischten ChorBerliner Philharmoniker, Marin AlsopFri, 21. February 2025
20:00hBerlinPhiharmoieOuti Tarkiainen, Day Night Day
Brett Dean, Fire Music für Orchester (Deutsche Erstaufführung)
Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, Suite
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Nr. 10 »Rasga o coração« für Orchester und gemischten ChorBerliner Philharmoniker, Marin AlsopThu, 20. February 2025
20:00hBerlinPhilharmonieOuti Tarkiainen, Day Night Day
Brett Dean, Fire Music für Orchester (Deutsche Erstaufführung)
Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, Suite
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Nr. 10 »Rasga o coração« für Orchester und gemischten ChorBerliner Philharmoniker, Marin Alsop
Media
