“Asters” Opera

Asters is a new opera by eminent Japanese composer Akira Nishimura, created especially for the New National Theatre, Tokyo. It is based on a novella by Jun Ishikawa and depicts the fate and struggles of a Heian-period artist in a fantastical world that extends into the underworld. In creating his first full-length opera, Nishimura teamed up with librettist and long-time collaborator Mikiro Sasaki, and is accompanied by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

The two-act opera will be sung in Japanese but there will be both Japanese and English surtitles. Info at tickets at www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english.