‘Natasha' distills global zeitgeist on the opera stage

Japan Times

2 days ago

La mer. Das meer. The Sea. Out of the darkness, hushed voices mimic the murmur of waves, whispering the word for 'sea' in 36 different languages.
This intricate cascade of sound is the start of 'Natasha,' a multilayered, multilingual opera that opens Aug. 11 at the New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) in Shinjuku with four performances concluding on Aug. 17.
On the liminal shore of a primordial sea, two displaced youths, Natasha and Arato, meet for the first time. They don't speak the same language, but they connect through shared suffering. Together, they embark on a journey through the hellish realities of the modern world, guided by Mephisto's grandson. Seven levels of hell unfold as they travel through environmental destruction, the blight of consumerism and the devastation of war, depicted through distinctly symbolic realms like a barren forest devoid of trees or a chaotic business hell with relentless industry.
Sung in Japanese, German and Ukrainian, the opera layers various other languages to blend a distinctive soundscape, including weaving in repurposed snippets from famous poetic sources, like Shakespeare, Goethe or the Chinese poet, Qu Yuan. Not only a deliberate mix of language, 'Natasha' is a bold meld of surrealism and reality, a modern allegory of mythic proportions.
It's exactly the sort of ambitious, international collaboration theater fans have come to expect from NNTT's artistic director Kazushi Ono , who's also concurrently the music director of Brussels Philharmonic in Belgium and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
The libretto for 'Natasha' was written by Berlin-based Japanese novelist Yoko Tawada (right). At New National Theatre, Tokyo's press conference in May, Tawada said it was her first libretto. |
RIKIMARU HOTTA
'Natasha' is the third original Japanese opera to be commissioned by Ono for the NNTT, with an impressive team of crosscultural artistic collaborators behind it. It is also the first premiere in Japan of a full-length opera by acclaimed contemporary classical composer, Toshio Hosokawa, who received Europe's prestigious BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for the "extraordinary reach of his music.' 'Natasha' is Hosokawa's eighth opera.
Belgian soprano Ilse Eerens will originate the titular role, with Japanese mezzo-soprano Hiroka Yamashita as Arato and German baritone Christian Miedl as the trickster who acts as their guide.
Ono first approached Hosokawa In 2019 about the new work. They soon brought on board award-winning novelist and playwright Yoko Tawada to write the libretto, and asked acclaimed German director, Christian Rath, to head up production and set design.
The Berlin-based Tawada has frequently seen her plays staged in Germany and previously collaborated with Hosokawa on a narrator and ensemble musical piece for children, but 'Natasha' is her first libretto for opera.
As she explained at a press conference in May, in Tokyo, it was an ongoing creative dialogue between Ono, Hosokawa and herself.
'With a novel, I usually write entirely alone and consult with no one,' said Tawada. 'But for this opera, we developed the story together from the beginning. We created a draft of the storyline, revised it, and then adapted it again. Through all these dialogues and revisions, the text was collaboratively shaped ... (it was) a unique and meaningful experience for me.'
New National Theatre, Tokyo's artistic director Kazushi Ono (left) invited German director Christian Rath to head the production. |
RIKIMARU HOTTA
After reading Tawada's libretto and hearing parts of the score as Hosokawa completed various sections, Rath first sketched out the staging, working with his frequent collaborator, set designer Daniel Unger.
'Everybody has their own process, but I'm often starting from a visual idea,' Rath tells the Japan Times during a rehearsal in Tokyo. 'As a director, it is my goal to keep the identity of the piece intact, the original thoughts of the creators, yet also to reveal the story so the audience can relate. The music, visuals and staging must allow the audience to open the door and go into this world, to access it and understand it, at least emotionally.'
Despite the emphasis on modern issues, Rath credits the 'nonlinear, poetic' libretto as allowing creative space for 'mystery and dream.'
'Tawada's style is surreal and dreamlike, so I think it allowed Hosokawa and certainly myself as a director more freedom to approach the work,' Rath says. 'There is a psychological and emotional logic within the opera that is much more important than actual reality. This piece presents a kind of duality between the spiritual and the real world that is very important to Hosokawa and Tawada, a search for an ideal, harmonious space that perhaps never existed, or existed before humanity itself.'
It is a universal idea, Rath believes, merged with the distinctively Japanese concept of harmony, something Hosokawa also says was very important in the composition process.
Belgian soprano Eerens plays Natasha, a role which sees her singing in both German and Ukrainian language. |
RIKIMARU HOTTA
Well-known for his distinctive fusion of Western aesthetics with Japanese classical traditions, Hosokawa cites many influences while working on the opera, from traditional shōmyō Buddhist chants or gagaku music to the writings of Toru Takemitsu and Kenzaburo Oe on the idea of creating a modern, 'polyverbal' opera.
Hosokawa also composed with his choice of European and Japanese singers. 'I knew the main cast before composing, and I wrote with their voice ranges in mind,' Hosokawa explained at the press conference.
Eerens frequently performs Hosokawa's work, including taking on the lead role in his 2011 critically acclaimed one act opera 'Matsukaze,' based on the noh play of the same name.
'You really feel the sense of collaboration, that Toshio has engaged himself with people he knows and trusts,' she tells The Japan Times during a break from rehearsals.
Eerens says there's pressure, too, as 'the honor feels too big' to originate this demanding role, which sees her singing in both German and Ukrainian. Yet, sheer artistic excitement seems to be her strongest emotion.
'Natasha' is the third original Japanese opera to be commissioned by Ono for the NNTT, with an impressive team of crosscultural artistic collaborators behind it. |
RIKIMARU HOTTA
'It feels like everything, the whole puzzle, came together from our very first rehearsal,' she continues, complimenting Yamashita and Miedl. 'It's so beautiful to sing with somebody where you really feel that the voices can find each other, and that you immediately adapt to each other's sounds. ... We're all really enjoying being here and starting the rehearsals together.'
As opening night steadily approaches, a sense of achievement permeates the constant buzz of the rehearsal space, from Rath's presentation on the core features of the set design to Ono perfecting the timing with the chorus or the musicians as he finetunes Hosokawa's layered, complex soundscape.
'Every new work is a challenge, a risk, a journey into the unknown in some way,' Rath says. 'As creators, we must follow our instincts for expression. In the case of 'Natasha,' the message is quite strong, as it relates directly to the world we're living in, the state of humanity now, in our times.'
For more information about 'Natasha,' visit nntt.jac.go.jp.