National Theater of Korea and New National Theatre Tokyo Exchange Performance Videos
Opera "Turandot" to Be Screened at Haeoreum Theater on the 8th
National Theater Company to Hold 12th Contemporary Japanese Play Reading
KBS Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Joint Korea-Japan Performances
The year 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan. Performances commemorating this milestone will be held continuously from the beginning of the year.
The National Theater of Korea will screen the opera Turandot from the New National Theatre Tokyo at the Haeoreum Theater on the 8th. Famous for the aria "Nessun dorma" sung by the protagonist Calaf, Turandot is a representative work by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini. The New National Theatre Tokyo's production of Turandot is conducted by Ono Kazushi and directed by Alex Olle.
Scene from the opera 'Turandot' at the New National Theatre, Japan [Photo provided by National Theater]
In November last year, the National Theater of Korea signed a business agreement with the New National Theatre Tokyo to promote cultural exchange between Korea and Japan. The New National Theatre Tokyo is the only national theater in Japan established to promote contemporary performing arts and opened in 1997 in Shibuya, Tokyo.
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic normalization this year, a screening exchange of live performance videos will be held. On August 28, the National Dance Company’s representative works 2022 Dance Drama Hodong and Mongyudowonmu will be screened consecutively at the Middle Theater of the New National Theatre Tokyo.
The National Theater Company of Korea, together with the Korea-Japan Theater Exchange Council, will present the "12th Contemporary Japanese Play Reading Performance" at the National Theater Company Myeongdong Art Theater on the 21st. Two representative works by currently prominent Japanese playwrights will be carefully selected and performed as reading plays by Korean directors and actors.
Matsui Shu 'Basement' Japan Performance Scene [Photo provided by National Theater Company (c) Tsukasa Aoki]
The two plays to be staged are The Basement (translated by Lee Hong-i) by Matsui Shu (松井周), which discusses the de-individualization and worthlessness of the individual within collectivism, and Hogiuta (translated by Kim Yubin) by Kitamura So (北村想), which depicts absurdity revealed through a unique worldview.
Matsui Shu debuted as an actor in 1996 and has since been active as both a playwright and director. He has received the 9th Japan Playwright Association New Play Award and the 55th Kishida Kunio Drama Award, among others, and was introduced by The New York Times in 2010 as "one of the most important directors in Japan." His dramatic development mainly portrays individuals who are consumed and discarded as needed within the community, using grotesquely distorted lives structured as everyday conversational dramas. The Basement is set in a remote part of Tokyo, in a health food store, and depicts the store manager’s process of sanctifying and sustaining the community by using his son, Morio. The performances are scheduled twice on the 21st at 7:30 PM and on the 22nd at 2 PM.
Kitamura So 'Hogiuta' Japan Performance Scene [Photo provided by National Theater Company of Korea, (c) Theater Project Nabi]
Kitamura So is a leading Japanese playwright and director who has received the Kishida Kunio Drama Award, Nagoya City Arts Award, Kinokuniya Theater Award, and Tsuruya Namboku Drama Award. He is actively engaged in writing not only plays but also film scripts, novels, and essays.
Hogiuta is the work that brought Kitamura So recognition when he wrote it in 1979. Set in a post-nuclear war world, it abstractly and symbolically depicts the meaningless yet universal aspects of human nature. Two people, Kyoko and Gesaku, pass through devastated nature and desolate streets and meet a mysterious figure who accompanies them. This absurd play, where despair and hope, futility and brightness coexist, culminates in an ice age when the characters’ destination becomes clear. The performances are scheduled twice on the 22nd at 6 PM and on the 23rd at 2 PM.
The KBS Symphony Orchestra will commemorate the 60th anniversary of Korea-Japan diplomatic normalization with a joint performance with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
On the 2nd of next month at 2 PM, the concert will be held at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, and on the following day, the 3rd, at 7:30 PM at the Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul. Both performances will be conducted by Chung Myung-whun. Chung has maintained a long-standing relationship with the Tokyo Philharmonic since taking the position of artistic advisor in 2000. At that time, Sony Chairman Oga Norio, who had just become the new chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic, recommended Chung Myung-whun as music director, but since Chung was serving as music director of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Radio France Philharmonic, he took the artistic advisor role instead. In 2016, the Tokyo Philharmonic appointed Chung Myung-whun as its first foreign honorary music director.
In the two joint performances, Chung will conduct Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos No. 10 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 "Titan." Pianist Sunwoo Yekwon, who won the Van Cliburn Competition in 2017, will perform Mozart’s concerto in collaboration with Japanese pianist Igarashi Kaoruko.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
