New National Theatre Tokyo’s Carmen – Free Online for a Limited Time!

Masahiko Terashi © New National Theatre, Tokyo

New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) is delighted to announce that Bizet’s opera CARMEN (staged in July 2021) will be streamed on OperaVision and NNTT’s Website from 18 October for three months until 18 January 2022 with English, French and Japanese subtitles. It is free to watch online with no registration required.

This is the first time a NNTT’s opera is shown on OperaVision, a world-leading digital platform for streaming of Opera and Ballet performances, which is accessible for viewers around the world.

We hope that viewers from Asia and Pacific countries would take this opportunity to enjoy NNTT’s opera production.

Details

Viewing Period: 18 October 2021 – 18 January 2022
Available to watch via OperaVision channel and/or NNTT’s Website (www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english)
Duration: 2 hours 45 mins.
Sung in French with English, French and Japanese subtitles
Recorded on 8 July 2021
Performed at the Opera Palace of New National Theatre Tokyo
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2021

Cast and Creative Team

Conductor: Kazushi Ono
Production: Àlex Ollé
Set Design: Alfons Flores
Costume Design: Lluc Castells
Lighting Design: Marco Filibeck
Chorus Master: Kyohei Tomihira
Children Chorus Master: Keiko Yoneya, Kunie Ito

Carmen: Stéphanie d’Oustrac
Don José: Toshiaki Murakami
Escamillo: Alexandre Duhamel
Micaëla: Ryoko Sunakawa
Zuniga: Hidekazu Tsumaya
Moralès: Kenichi Yoshikawa
Le Dancaïre: Hidekazu Machi
Le Remendado: Shuhei Itoga
Frasquita: Mari Moriya
Mercédès: Mika Kaneko
Chorus: New National Theatre Chorus, BIWAKO HALL Vocal Ensamble
Children Chorus TOKYO FM Boys Choir
Orchestra: Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

About the production – Carmen of our age

New National Theatre Tokyo’s new production of Georges Bizet’s masterpiece CARMEN met its world premiere in July 2021 with rave reviews. It is directed by Spanish director Àlex OLLÉ, co-director of the Opening Ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games as well as many productions at opera houses/festivals including the Royal Opera, Paris Opéra, Teatro Real Madrid and Salzburg Festival.

Artistic Director of New National Theatre Tokyo Opera ONO Kazushi takes up the baton, tag-teaming with OLLÉ.    The title role is performed by French mezzo soprano Stéphanie D’OUSTRAC, while Japanese tenor MURAKAMI Toshiaki takes on the role of Don José and French baritone Alexandre DUHAMEL as Escamillo.

OLLÉ’s innovative idea was to rethink how Carmen has been usually interpreted and present the story in the context of today’s showbusiness. Here, Carmen is an Amy Winehouse inspired rock singer visiting Japan on tour, Don José is a security officer in charge of Escamillo, a star toreador. Featuring Carmen, D’OUSTRAC’s charisma portrays the character with boldness and sensitivity, gorgeous yet vulnerable and yearning for freedom. OLLÉs intent was to create Carmen as a proud woman of our age, with a strong will to live life freely by always following her instinct, in resemblance with the rise and fall of the real-life rock star Winehouse.

Masahiko Terashi © New National Theatre, Tokyo

Masahiko Terashi © New National Theatre, Tokyo

Reviews

Bachtrack ★★★★
D’Oustrac’s charisma as a rock star is apparent along with her splendid acting skills, portraying the character with boldness and sensitivity.
MORI Naomi, 9 July 2021

Opera Magazine
The idea that Carmen is primarily a performer whose job, as it were, is to be a sort of caricature version of herself is so compelling that one wants to go along with it, and every assistance is given in the form of a superbly committed performance and outstanding sets which realistically, and surrealistically, evoke the world in which touring popstars live. …
The performance properly belonged to d’Oustrac: she created a compelling, thoroughly believable character, channeling Winehouse into Carmen, or Carmen into Winehouse, and bringing a much greater sense of vulnerability to the heroine than is usually found in productions of Bizet’s masterpiece.
David CHANDLER, Opera Magazine, October 2021

About the New National Theatre, Tokyo

New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) is Japan’s only national theatre dedicated to the performing arts of Opera, Ballet, Dance and Drama. Since we opened in 1997, NNTT has presented world-class performances not only at our theatre in Tokyo but also at many regional theatres, and has come to occupy a familiar and much-loved place in the nation’s cultural life.

The NNTT comprises the Opera Palace (1814 seats), Playhouse (1038 seats) and The Pit (open space theatre with flexible seating arrangements up to 468 seats), each uniquely contributes to an annual total of about 300 stage performances to the delight of approx. 200,000 theatregoers, including many visitors from overseas. The theatre is constantly active in staging original productions, produced in-house or in collaboration with other theatres throughout Japan and overseas.