Yuri Umemoto

Since last year, Yuri Umemoto has been steadily entering the Copenhagen music scene. His appearance at the MINU festival marks his first engagement with Copenhagen’s contemporary music community. He is currently collaborating with Klang Festival Copenhagen and other European festivals on the co-production of a new opera to be premiered from 2026 onward. His debut in Copenhagen last year already reflected his wide artistic reach beyond contemporary music: he performed at an event in KOBE, where he participated in (at)world, an emerging art project by artists from the circles around the labels Posh Isolation and REAL LIVE. Umemoto first met Dylan Richards, one of the co-directors of MINU festival, when Richards visited Japan. Richards has curated several of his works and presented concerts that highlighted the composer’s references to anime and otaku culture. For his DJ set at MINU, Umemoto will perform not only his own music but also works by modern classical, experimental, electronic, and other artists from around his scene, alongside musicians who have influenced him. Yuri Umemoto (b. 2002, Tokyo) is a composer who works with notation, instruments, recording, and digital editing. His style is shaped by influences from internet culture, Japanese anime and pop culture, as well as his roots in Christian music, Catholic sacred chant, and classical music traditions. His pieces have been performed at festivals including PODIUM Esslingen, Thüringer Bachwochen, and Musica nova Helsinki. His upcoming project is the new opera crypt_, commissioned by the Münchener Biennale. The work is a co-production with the Münchener Biennale, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Oslo Sinfonietta, Black Box teater Oslo, and Klang Festival Kopenhagen. The concert is in Xenon.

• Yuri Umemoto