The New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT) presents Toshio Hosokawa‘s new opera Natasha, conducted by Kazushi Ono and directed by Christian Räth, via global streaming. Premiered in August 2025, the production drew wide acclaim and was named a finalist in the World Premiere category of the International Opera Awards 2025.
From Friday, 12 December 2025 at 7:00 p.m. (CET) to Friday, 12 June 2026 at 12:00 p.m. (CET), audiences can experience Natasha for free on OperaVision and NNTT Stream. Running time: Approx. 2 hours 35 minutes.
Natasha is the first opera by Hosokawa to be staged at the NNTT since Matsukaze in 2018, as well as his second opera to be premiered by Ono Kazushi.
“Reconsidering the relationship between humans and nature, Hosokawa Toshio’s music is a kind of prayer or requiem. Especially after the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, his works address humans’ repetitive history of destruction, drawing particular attention to nature’s fearsomeness and to the human arrogance of forgetting the awe nature deserves. Globally acclaimed author Tawada Yoko, who writes novels in both Japanese and German that examine the world from a German base and highlight themes of national borders and languages, 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 hells. Multilingual with Japanese, German and Ukrainian languages, the opera compares and contrasts the origins of modern civilization and humanity. The groans of the endangered earth resonate deeply throughout this opera that depicts destruction and hope with multiculturalism as the key to finding a path forward.
Hosokawa’s music resonates with meditative power—at once ritualistic and deeply human—evoking the cries of a wounded planet while offering a glimpse of hope.”
Creative Team
Libretto by Yoko Tawada
Composed by Toshio Hosokawa
Conductor: Kazushi Ono
Production: Christian Räth
Set Design: Christian Räth, Daniel Unger
Costume Design: Mattie Ullrich
Lighting Design: Rick Fisher
Video Design: Clemens Walter
Electronic Sound Design: Sumihisa Arima
Choreographer: Catherine Galasso
Cast
Natasha — Ilse Eerens
Arato — Hiroka Yamashita
Mephistos Enkel — Christian Miedl
Frau A — Mari Moriya
Frau B — Akiko Tomihira
Businessman A — Tang Jun Bo
Businessman B — Timothy Harris
Saxophonist — Masanori Oishi
Electric Guitarist — Gaku Yamada
Chorus Master — Kyohei Tomihira
Chorus — New National Theatre Chorus
Orchestra — Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Filed under: music news, new opera, Toshio Hosokawa
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 