We are delighted to announce the 2024/2025 Opera Season at the New National Theatre Tokyo.

9 Productions in Total including 3 New Productions

• La Sonnambula New Production
• Guillaume Tell New Production
  
• Die Zauberflöte
• Der fliegende Holländer
• Eine florentinische Tragödie / Gianni Schicchi
• Carmen
• Madama Butterfly
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia
• Natasha New Production / Commissioned Work, World Premiere
  
  
• Educational Programme for High School Students Tosca

Message from Ono Kazushi, Artistic Director of Opera

To all Supporters of the New National Theatre Tokyo and all Opera Fans,

It is our great pleasure to present the opera programme for the 2024/25 season, which will feature three new productions.

The season opens with a new production of Bellini's lovely opera La Sonnambula. The work is a stark contrast to his tragic Norma. Amina, a village girl, is engaged to Elvino, a wealthy youth of the village, and they sing of the joys of marriage in a virtuosic duet. When Count Rodolfo arrives, however, Elvino mistakenly believes that the Count has taken Amina away from him and sings a lament with delicate, beautiful high notes. But in fact, Amina had been "sleepwalking" around the village every night and she appears before Elvino.
Amina is played by Rosa Feola, whose beautiful voice has been heard at New York's Metropolitan Opera and other opera houses around the world; Elvino is played by Antonino Siragusa, who has impressed audiences with his extraordinary voice and acting ability. Count Rodolfo is played by our nation's star singer, Tsumaya Hidekazu. Maestro Maurizio Benini conducts, and the director is Bárbara Lluch, herself an actress. It's hard to imagine a better combination.

The next new production is Rossini's final opera, the grand opera Guillaume Tell (William Tell). Although Rossini was known as a rapid composer, he took six months to complete this work alone. The opera was based on Schiller's German play, but the libretto was written in French, and we will perform the opera in the original French version. Although the overture is famous, not many people will have heard the opera in its entirety.
The four-act opera depicts the struggles of the Swiss marksman William Tell and his son to liberate the nation from the occupation of the Austrian Habsburgs and their conflict with Governor Gesler. Meanwhile, Arnold, the son of the local elder Melchtal, is in love with the Habsburg princess Mathilde, but he must part from her in order to fight for Swiss independence.
The title role is sung by the young and noble baritone Gezim Myshketa, who has already made his reputation in this role, and Arnold by René Barbera, who wowed audiences as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the NNTT in 2021 with the brilliance of his high notes and the beauty of the soft notes. Globe-trotting soprano Olga Peretyatko, who sings Mathilde, is acclaimed for her spectacular top notes and more recently for her rich middle range too.
The director is Yannis Kokkos, whose production of Le Rossignol /Iolanta at the NNTT in 2021, remotely directed from France, successfully captured the lyricism of the works.

The third new production of the season is the much-awaited new opera Natasha by Hosokawa Toshio. This is the third opera that we have commissioned from Japanese composers during my directorship. The libretto is written by Tawada Yoko, internationally renowned Japanese novelist based in Germany.
Natasha (soprano, Ilse Eerens), a Ukrainian, meets a Japanese youth Arato (mezzo-soprano, Yamashita Hiroka), and they are lured to modern hell by the mysterious third character, "Mephisto's Grandson" (baritone, Christian Miedl). There, all sorts of horrors of the modern age appear before their eyes. At first, they find it difficult to communicate, but as they go through these horrors together, they find they are increasingly able to understand each other. What future awaits them?
This new creation is directed by Christian Räth, who is not only a talented director but a set designer as well. We anticipate he will approach the work from a variety of angles.

In addition to these three new productions, we will present our repertory works with distinguished singers and conductors.
Mozart's Die Zauberflöte will be conducted by Czech conductor Tomáš Netopil, who continues his successful career in both opera and on the concert stage. Tamino will be sung by Pavol Breslik, acclaimed as a fine Mozartian tenor from his early days, and the Queen of the Night will be sung by esteemed coloratura soprano, Yasui Yoko.
For Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, we have invited the great Russian singer Evgeny Nikitin - who was unable to come to Japan for our Boris Godunov - to reprise the title role. We are also happy that eminent Japanese bass Matsui Hiroshi can join us. Conductor Marc Albrecht, a fine Wagnerian whom I know very well personally, makes his first appearance at the NNTT.
The revival of the double bill of Zemlinsky's Eine florentinische Tragödie and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi will be conducted by Numajiri Ryusuke, who also led the premiere of this production. Thomas Johannes Mayer and Pietro Spagnoli, two great baritones from Germany and Italy respectively, head the casts.
Bizet's Carmen will be conducted by Gaetano d'Espinosa. Carmen will be sung by fast-rising talent, Samantha Hankey. She has been highly praised for her Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier amongst others, and we can't wait to see how she will play Carmen. In the role of Don José will be Atalla Ayan, who is widely viewed as the star of the 21st century. The New York Times said of his Met debut that "he is a real find." The two will lead the drama of Carmen to its irrevocable destiny.
Puccini's Madama Butterfly features the fine Japanese soprano Kobayashi Atsuko in the title role, a true Butterfly singer on an international scale. Conducted by Enrique Mazzola, who was born and raised in a musical family, we look forward to seeing how Kobayashi will convey Cio-Cio-San's fluctuating emotions.
Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia sees the return of Corrado Rovaris, who conducted Falstaff for us in February 2023. Known for his wide repertory, he is also well acquainted with Baroque music, which is deeply reflected in his music making. It will be intriguing to see him perform with Wakizono Aya, who possesses a deep grasp of the essence of Italian music.

In recent years, NNTT's diverse programme has gained a reputation in Europe, the home of opera. Our recent production of Simon Boccanegra graced the cover of the U.K. magazine "Opera", and we are increasingly attracting attention in the operatic world. We hope that you too will enjoy the music storytelling at the New National Theatre, Tokyo. We look forward to welcoming all of you.