Nikikai Opera Foundation (Nikikai Opera)

 

1-25-12 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0051

Admin. phone (+81 3) 3796 1818

Ticket Enquiries (10 am to 6 pm): (+81 3) 3796 4711

Fax: (+81 3) 3796 4710

Website (Japanese only): www.tvz.com/opera/nikikai/peformance.html

E-mail: nikikaiopera@hkg.odn.ne.jp

Public Relations: Ms Chizuko Daimon

 

also at 1-50-1-305 Hatsudai, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0061

 

 

The Nikikai, which means 'the second generation' in deference to the pioneer singers of the 1920s and 30s, was founded in 1952. A private, non-profit organization, it is now the largest association of its kind in Japan, involved in both performance and education, with more than 1900 associate singers. It has no permanent venue but maintains a close connection with the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music (Geidai).

 

The Nikikai Opera Foundation was founded in June 1977 to handle stage productions, of which there are about four or five a year. It is Japan's leading company for Mozart and German opera and many operas are also performed in Italian, Japanese. French and occasionally English.

 

Many productions are now shared with the New National Theatre, Tokyo. The former Nikikai Chorus became the New National Theatre Chorus in 1997, and a special Nikikai school for training young opera singers, sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs from 1976 to 1998, was also transferred there. However a 45-year old Nikikai Opera Institute retains its own five year training programme for some 200 graduate singers.

 

 

Nikikai Opera Main Productions 1952-2000

 

Aida (Verdi) 1982 

Amahl and the Night Visitors (Menotti) 1954

Arabella (R Strauss) co-production with New National Theatre 1998

Ariadne auf Naxos (R Strauss) 1971

Barbiere di Siviglia, Il (Rossini) 1961, 1970, 1974, 1982, 1987

Bohème, La (Puccini) 1952, 1972, 1992

Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky) 1976

Carmen (Bizet) 1954, 1955, 1957, 1970, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1996

Carmina Burana (Orff) 1978

Cavalleria rusticana (Mascagni) 1975, 1983, 1997

Cenerentola, La (Rossini) 1968, 1997

Chanchiki (Ikuma Dan) 1978, 1989

Contes d'Hoffmann, Le (Offenbach) 1960, 1971

Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) 1954, 1960, 1974, 1976, 1996, 1999

Crime and Punishment (Hara) co-production with New National Theatre 1999

Csárdásfürstin, Die (Kalman) 1995

Cunning Little Vixen, The (Janacek) 1978

Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) 1978

Don Carlo (Verdi) 1981

Don Giovanni (Mozart) 1957, 1961, 1968, 1978, 1982, 1992, 1995, 1999

Don Pasquale (Donizetti) 1961

Dreigroschenoper, Die (Weill) 1987, 1988

Elisir d'amore, L' (Donizetti) 1986

Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart) 1976

Falstaff (Verdi) 1982

Faust (Gounod) 1978

Fidelio (Beethoven) 1977, 1981, 1994

Fledermaus, Die (J Strauss) 1957, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1986 (twice), 1990, 1992

Fliegende Höllander, Der (Wagner) 1973

Forza del destino, La (Verdi) 1989

Freischütz, Der (Weber) 1974

Götterdämmerung (Wagner) 1991

Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, co-production with New National Theatre 1998

Incoronazione di Poppea, L' (Monteverdi) 1993

Kappa-tan (Mareo Ishiketa) 1954

Kat'a Kabanova (Janacek) 1981

Katerina Ismailova (Shostakovich) 1973

Kesa to Morito (Kan Ishii) 1975

Kikimimizukin (Ikuma Dan) 1985

Lohengrin (Wagner) 1979

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) 1977

Lustige Witwe, Die (Lehár) 1970, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1997

Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Nicolai) 1960, 1978

Macbeth (Verdi) 1974

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) 1957, 1977, 1984, (1904 version)1990

Martha (Flotow) 1953

Matthäus-Passion (Bach/staged) 1985

Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die (Wagner) 1981

Midsummer Night's Dream, A (Britten) 1962, 1983, 2000

Nozze di Figaro, Le (Mozart) 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1986, 1990, 1997, 1998

Orfee aux enfers (Offenbach) 1981, 1983

Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck) 1974

Otello (Verdi) 1953, 1965, 1975,

Pagliacci, I (Leoncavallo) 1975, 1983, 1997

Parsifal (Wagner) 1967

Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy) 1988

Peter Grimes (Britten) 1956

Rape of Lucretia, The (Britten) 1954

Rheingold, Das (Wagner) 1969, 1993

Rigoletto (Verdi) 1971, 1975, 1984, 1991, 1997

Salome (R Strauss) co-production with New National Theatre 2000

Shunkinsho (Minoru Miki) 1990

Shuzenji Monogatari (Osamu Shimizu) 1955, 1963

Siegfried (Wagner) 1983

Silence (Matsumura) co-production with New National Theatre 2000

Simon Boccanegra (Verdi) 1993

Student Prince, The (Romberg) 1975, 1994

Tannhäuser (Wagner) 1966, 1976, 1988, 1999

Tosca (Puccini) 1987, 1991

Traviata, La (Verdi) 1953, 1959, 1984, 1989

Trittico, Il (Puccini) 1995

Trovatore, Il ( Verdi) 1980, 1994

Walküre, Die (Wagner) 1972, 1986, 1996

Werther (Massenet) 1980

Wozzeck (Berg) 1985

Yuzuru (Ikuma Dan) 1973, 1977, 1979, 1985

Zauberflöte, Die (Mozart) 1955, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1985, 1989, 1996, 2000

Zigeunerbaron, Der (J Strauss) 1973

 

Opera japonica 13/10/2000