Summer Festival Opera 2019-20 Japan↔Tokyo↔World
The Summer Festival Opera 2019-20 Japan↔Tokyo↔World is a 2-year international opera project developed by theTokyo Bunka Kaikan and the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in cooperation with the leading theaters in the regions,in line with the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.
In 2019, we will present TURANDOT （Puccini） which is set in Asia （China）. It will be directed by Alex Olle, theartistic director of La Fura dels Baus, the theatre company that directed the opening ceremony of the BarcelonaOlympics. The project was conceived by Maestro Kazushi Ono, musical director of the Barcelona SymphonyOrchestra. It is also a big topic that this orchestra will visit Japan for the first time in 24 years and play in the pit.
In 2020, we will present DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NURNBERG （Wagner）. A grand festival opera, with TokyoBunka Kaikan, New National Theatre, Tokyo, Salzburg Easter Festival and Semperoper Dresden performed as aninternational co-production. The Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra which is the legacy of the Tokyo 1964Olympic Games will perform again in the pit to boost the year 2020.
General Producer / Conductor ‐ ONO Kazushi
Being exiled from his own country Wagner spent 15 years of hardship before completing this opera. He made the most of this ordeal. During this time, he wrote the grand scale libretto of the musical drama Der Ring des Nibelungen, of which the preliminary evening Das Rheingold and the first evening Die Walküre were completed. He completed Tristan und Isolde through the tragic love he experienced during his stay in Switzerland. These works were born from the torrent of emotions that rushed out from his soul, even though there were no plans to performed them at the time. It was as if he himself paved the way for these works to be performed.
That opportunity finally came with Ludwig II’s rise to the throne. In his seclusion, The King of Bavaria, fascinated by the music of the man he had never met, invited Wagner to his palace marking the crowning moment of Wagner’s life.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg gave him the opportunity to start over again.
“Anyone can write a beautiful song in spring or summer. But when autumn comes and eventually winter comes, whoever can still write a beautiful song is a true artist”. The climax of the musical drama, Hans Sachs song in Act 3 speaks volumes to those of us who live in the present.
March 2021
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À l e x O L L É video message
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