New National Theatre, Tokyo Announces Lineup for 2018/2019 Season, Appointing Kazushi Ono as Artistic Director of Opera

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Mar 09, 2018, 12:00 ET

TOKYO, March 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The New National Theatre, Tokyo (http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/), Japan's one and only opera house celebrating the 20th anniversary season (http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/20th/) this year, is pleased to announce the lineup for the 2018/2019 Season under the new Artistic Director of Opera, Kazushi Ono.

Ono, who was the musical director at Theatre Royal de la Monnaie from 2002 to 2008 and currently the musical director of Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, has an extensive career in conducting opera productions at prominent opera houses including La Scala, Opera National de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera.

Photo: Kazushi Ono (courtesy of the New National Theatre, Tokyo
http://prw.kyodonews.jp/img/201803051558-O4-8y965978

Of 10 productions, including four new ones from October 2018 to July 2019, highlights in particular are the two world premieres. One is a new opera titled "ASTERS," a commissioned new work from Japanese composer Akira Nishimura, with a story described by Ono as "an operatic version of a Japanese Jean-Christophe." The other is a grand-scale new production of Puccini's "TURANDOT" directed by Alex Olle, internationally known for his direction of the opening ceremony for the Barcelona Olympics. The production will be part of the "Summer Festival Opera 2019-20 Japan--Tokyo--World," a two-year opera project conceived by the idea long incubated by Ono of 'Made in Japan Opera' being the host of the world.

The Opera House of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, is also a residence of the National Ballet of Japan. Under the artistic direction of Noriko Ohara, seven productions, including five full-length narrative ballets, are scheduled to be performed. Highlight of the 2018/2019 Season is taking on Christopher Wheeldon's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," an acclaimed work first performed by the Royal Ballet in 2011. The new production of this work by the dancers of the National Ballet of Japan is made possible under the co-production with the Australian Ballet.

Video: National Ballet of Japan (World Ballet Day)
https://youtu.be/iVav5URlEEc

Please visit the following URLs for the full lineup
https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M104851/201803051558/_prw_OA4fl_t63rL6Bu.pdf

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/attach/201803051558-O3-mUJ1193I.pdf

http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/

SOURCE New National Theatre, Tokyo