Teizo Matsumura

Japanese composer and poet Teizo Matsumura (1929-2007), orphaned and recovering from tuberculosis in the early 1950s, began to write music and haiku. Influenced not only by Asian traditions, but also by Ravel and Stravinsky, he went on to receive the 1974 UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers award and the 1978 Suntory Music Award. His best known work, the opera Chinmoku ('Silence'), on which he worked for thirteen years, is based on the novel of the same name by Endo Shusaku.

For any Japanese opera house, the staging of works by Japanese composers is an absolute necessity, and the first such work to be performed during Tadaaki Otaka's tenure as artistic director of New National Theatre Tokyo was Dan Ikuma's one act opera Yuzuru ('Twilight Crane'), which has been performed more than seven hundred times in Japan and overseas.

In its second year under Otaka, NNT Opera presents Chinmoku (Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 February 2012, both at 6.30pm and Friday 17, Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 February, all at 2pm, at the New National Theatre, 1-1-1 Hon-machi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo).

Otaka had long expressed an interest in this challenging work, and recognized the possibilities that could be achieved with a new production. The opera premiered at the NNTT in 2000. This new production is the work of Artistic Director (Play) Keiko Miyata, who has spoken passionately about the project: 'I feel a deep attachment to the work and enjoyed reading the novel, which deals with tricks of the human mind and a sense of conflict and confrontation with God. As one reads a script, I hope to "read the sounds"'. This will be Keiko Miyata's first turn at producing an opera. The language of the composer will be conveyed through the baton of conductor Shimono Tatsuya, making his debut at the NNTT.

Information: nntt.jac.go.jp

Posted: 11 January 2012

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