Admin

Organization

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Mihoko Fujimura

Haruko

Soprano

Susanne Elmark

Claudia

Baritone

Viktor Rud

Hiroto

Countertenor

Bejun Mehta

Stephan

Bass

Marek Gasztecki

Ein Fischer

Conductor

Kent Nagano

Stage director

Oriza Hirata

Costume designer

Aya Masakane

Set designer

Itaru Sugiyama

Chorus master

Eberhard Friedrich

Staatsoper Hamburg

Orchestra

Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg

Stilles Meer

Hamburg

Germany

Staatsoper

Critics praised Toshio Hosokawa's gripping new opera: "A requiem that gives a voice to grief to give the work its own unique power and impact" (Süddeutsche Zeitung). "Incredibly effective" (Stern). "Nagano conducts with piercing clarity (...) the singers are inspired" (Die Welt).

From the Hamburg State Opera, one of the most acclaimed theater events of recent years: Stilles Meer by Japan's most important living composer, dedicated to the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Hosokawa's opera is based on the Noh play Sumidagawa (Sumida River), about a mother's overwhelming grief about the death of her son, and Mori Ōgai's book Maihime (The Dancing Girl), about an unhappy German-Japanese love affair. The production is directed by celebrated Japanese director and dramaturge Oriza Hirata.

"This is the first world premiere of Kent Nagano in his new role as Hamburg's music director (...) The orchestra plays for him with fine precision. Susanne Elmark sings with clarity and warmth. Bejun Mehta provides his lines with touchingly bittersweet melancholy. Mihoko Fujimura brings a necessary touch of earthy humanity as Brangäne to opera" (Financial Times).

The opera's composer Toshio Hosokawa, who also designed the libretto, said: "The 2011 Tôhoku earthquake and tsunami and the resulting incident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant forced me to reflect again on the power of nature and human arrogance My music is born from a deep correspondence with nature.

"There is a scene in the opera where the people go to the sea shore with lanterns and return the lights to the sea. This ritual illustrates our belief that the human soul comes from the sea and returns there after death. But if the sea isn't clean anymore, then where can we go back? I was in Fukushima and I saw the abandoned villages and towns. I will never forget that. Now let's turn a blind eye, but we have to see what happened. I turn off the music my need for healing, for spiritual redemption. In the opera, the sad mother sings and experiences healing. The audience can also experience this spiritual healing through the music."

Stilles Meer Hosokawa

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