2024/2025 the New National Theatre Tokyo Season

The New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT) is delighted to announce its 2024/2025 Season starting from 3 Oct 2024. 

The 2024/2025 Opera season under Artistic Director, Kazushi Ono offers three new productions ― two NNTT premieres, one world premiere, as well as six revivals. 

The NNTT kicks off its 2024/2025 season with the long-awaited NNTT premiere of Bellini’s enchanting opera La Sonnambula, directed by Bárbara Lluch.  

Amina is played by Rosa Feola, whose beautiful voice has been heard at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and other opera houses around the world; Elvino is played by Antonino Siragusa, who has impressed audiences with his extraordinary voice and acting ability. Count Rodolfo is played by our nation’s star singer, Hidekazu Tsumaya. It will be conducted by Maurizio Benini, a renowned master of Italian opera.  

The second new production of the season is the Japan stage premiere of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell in the original French. The legendary director/designer Yannis Kokkos returns to the NNTT to create a brand new production. Artistic Director Kazushi Ono conducts the production, with the title role sung by the young, yet noble baritone Gezim Myshketa (who has already made his reputation in this role) and Arnold by René Barbera, who wowed audiences as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the NNTT in 2021 with the brilliance of his high notes and the beauty of the soft notes. Star soprano Olga Peretyatko will make her long-awaited return to the NNTT as Mathilde.  

The newly commissioned opera Natasha composed by Toshio Hosokawa will have its world premiere in Aug 2025. Globally acclaimed author Yoko Tawada is working on the libretto for the new work. The story focuses on an encounter between Natasha, a wandering immigrant driven out of her hometown, and a young man named Arato, as well as a Mephistopheles-like figure who shows and leads the pair through various scenes of human hell. Multilingual with Japanese, German and Ukrainian languages and others, the opera compares and contrasts the origins of modern civilisation and humanity. The world premiere will be conducted by Kazushi Ono, and the direction and set design of this innovative creation are entrusted to Christian Räth. The international cast including Ilse Eerens, Hiroka Yamashita and Christian Miedl join the NNTT for the new work.   

The NNTT’s repertoire will be staged with acclaimed singers and conductors. 

2024/2025 Opera season  

La Sonnambula / Vincenzo Bellini [New Production] 
3 – 14 Oct 2024 
Co-production with Teatro Real of Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Massimo di Palermo  

Guillaume Tell / Gioachino Rossini [New Production] 
20 – 30 Nov 2024  

Die Zauberflöte / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 
10 – 15 Dec 2024  

Der fliegende Holländer / Richard Wagner 
19 Jan – 1 Feb 2025  

Eine florentinische Tragödie / Alexander Zemlinsky 
Gianni Schicchi / Giacomo Puccini 
2 – 8 Feb 2025  

Carmen / Georges Bizet 
26 Feb – 8 Mar 2025  

Madama Butterfly / Giacomo Puccini 
14 – 24 May 2025  

Il Barbiere di Siviglia / Gioachino Rossini 
25 May – 3 Jun 2025  

Natasha / Toshio Hosokawa [New Production / Commissioned Work, World Premiere] 
11 – 17 Aug 2025 

2024/2025 Season Opera 
https://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/2024-25season-opera.html 

Kazushi Ono, the Artistic director of Opera

The National Ballet of Japan’s (NBJ) 2024/2025 season under Artistic Director, Miyako Yoshida sees one world premiere, two company premieres alongside beloved classics.   

The triple bill Ballet Coffret will feature two company premieres – Harald Lander’s Etudes and William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, along with Michel Fokine’s The Firebird, making a return after 12 years. The trio of works have been especially chosen to showcase the technical virtuosity and stylistic versatility of the dancers of the NBJ.  

The NBJ dancer Keigo Fukuda will create a one-act work for the company’s Young NBJ GALA 2025, which aims to nurture young dancers. A member of the NBJ Choreographic Group, Fukuda has worked with emerging dancers of the company over the past few seasons.   

The NBJ’s 2025 highlight will be the company’s UK debut at the Royal Opera House in London, generously supported by Kinoshita Group Co., Ltd. The company will give five performances of Giselle in a celebrated production by the artistic director Miyako Yoshida who was for 16 years a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet. In collaboration with award-winning British choreographer Alastair Marriot and designer Dick Bird, Yoshida’s Giselle will also be performed in Tokyo in April 2025 before travelling to London. 

National Ballet of Japan’s (NBJ) 2024/2025 Season 

The Sleeping Beauty 
25 Oct – 4 Nov 2024  

DANCE to the Future 2024 
29 Nov – 1 Dec 2024  

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King 
21 Dec 2024 – 5 Jan 2025  

Ballet Coffret 
Etudes [Company Premiere] 
The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude [Company Premiere] 
The Firebird 
14 – 16 Mar 2025  

Obachetta 
29 – 30 Mar 2025  

Giselle 
April 2025 at Tokyo / 24 – 27 July 2025 at Royal Opera House, London, UK  

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland© by Christopher Wheeldon 
12 – 24 Jun 2025 
Co-production with: The Australian Ballet  

Young NBJ GALA 2025 
O Solitude 
A New Work by Keigo Fukuda [Commissioned work by the NBJ, world premiere] 
12 – 13 Jul 2025  

2024/2025 Season for the NBJ 
https://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/2024-25season-ballet-dance.html 

Miyako Yoshida, the Artistic director of Ballet & Dance

The 2024/2025 Drama season under Artistic Director, Eriko Ogawa offers seven ambitious productions. 

This season opener in October is Martin McDonagh‘s The Pillowman. Set in the irrational and cruel world of a fictional country, the story asks questions about the roles and significance of storytelling.  

In Nov, we premiere the new play Thebes scripted by Yuta Funaiwa based on the stories of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.  

Mikhail Bulgakov‘s The White Guard is coming up in December. Set in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv just after the Soviet regime takes hold, the story provides insight into present-day events and sheds light on the history behind the ongoing war.  

In April 2025, we present Juro Miyoshi’s Yoru no Michizure, directed by Akinori Yaginuma, in a new trial format called Studio Performance.  

From May, we are presenting our series, Landscapes – Into the Beyond. This series shines a light on modern-day society through various scenes focusing on the smallest unit of society, the family. In collaboration with the Czech Republic’s The National Theatre Brno, we invite their production of Karel Čapek‘s Mother as the first work in the series.  

The second instalment in the series is the Japan Premiere of Stephen Karam‘s The Humans. This work, which was adapted into a film after winning a Tony Award, delves into the existential anxiety and unshared fears of individuals in modern society, even within close family circles.  

The third work in the series features Morning Disappearance, written in 2018 for the NNTT by Ryuta Horai. Entirely cast through auditions, this production will be directed by Horai himself. 

2024/2025 Drama Season 

The Pillowman 
3 Oct – 27 Oct 2024 

Thebes 
7 Nov – 24 Nov 2024  

The White Guard 
3 Dec – 22 Dec 2024  

Yoru no Michizure 
April 2025 
Landscapes – Into the Beyond – Vol.1 

Mother 
May – June 2025 
Production of the National Theatre Brno Drama Company 
Landscapes – Into the Beyond – Vol. 2 

The Humans 
June 2025 
Landscapes – Into the Beyond – Vol.3  

Morning Disappearance 
July 2025 

2024/2025 Season Drama 
https://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/2024-25season-drama.html

Eriko Ogawa, the Artistic director of Drama