In December, Japanese theatres and concert halls customarily perform two blockbusters: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Now, a third seasonal piece might have been discovered: certainly William Kentridge’s 2005…
Author: Natsuko Hirakura
Rossini’s Guillaume Tell Triumphs at the New National Theatre Tokyo
To most Japanese, the overture of Guillaume Tell (William Tell) is familiar, evoking memories of Sports Day at elementary school. Nevertheless, this was the first full-scale staged production of Rossini’s…
The New National Theatre Tokyo opens its season with Bellini’s La Sonnambula
The NNTT’s 2024/2025 season opened with Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece, La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker), seen on October 12. A co-production with Madrid’s Teatro Real, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu…
Madau-Diaz’s Tosca returns to the New National Theatre Tokyo
The NNTT commemorated the centenary of Giacomo Puccini’s death with Antonello Madau-Diaz’s very popular production of Tosca under the baton of the renowned Maurizio Benini. Now enjoying its eighth revival,…
Michieletto’s “Camping Così” returns to the New National Theatre Tokyo
Damiano Michieletto’s 2011 production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, making a welcome return to the New National Theatre, Tokyo, was seen on June 1. Set in a contemporary campground, vividly…
McVicar’s Tristan und Isolde returns to the New National Theatre Tokyo
David McVicar’s production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, making a welcome return to the New National Theatre, Tokyo, was seen on March 20. The revival, the first since its widely…
Eugene Onegin returns to the New National Theatre Tokyo
First unveiled in 2019 (reviewed by David Chandler here: The New Season at the New National Theatre, Tokyo – Opera Today), this revival of Dmitry Bertman’s Eugene Onegin – his…
Simon Boccanegra at the New National Theatre Tokyo
To some people, Simon Boccanegra (1857, rev. 1881) is one of Verdi’s finest musical masterpieces, yet both admirers and detractors regard it as based on one of his most problematic…