Appointment of the Next Artistic Directors (from 2018/19 Season)


As of 21st of June, the Board of Directors of the New National Theatre Foundation has reappointed OZAKI Motoki as the President, newly-appointed ONO Kazushi as the Artistic Consultant of Opera and OGAWA Eriko as the Artistic Consultant of Drama, and reappointed OHARA Noriko as the Artistic Director of Ballet & Dance.



President (Reappointed)                   OZAKI Motoki


Term: 21 June 2016 ~ The date of Board of Councilors meeting in 2018.

Artistic Consultant (Next Artistic Director) of Opera     ONO Kazushi

Term as Artistic Consultant: 1 Sept 2016 ~ 31 Aug 2018 (2 years)

Term as Artistic Director: 1 Sept 2018 ~ 31 Aug 2022 (4 years)

Artistic Director of Ballet & Dance (Reappointed)        OHARA Noriko

Current Term as Artistic Director: 1 Sept 2014 ~ 31 Aug 2018 (4 years)

Reappointed Term as Artistic Director: 1 Sept 2018 ~ 31 Aug 2020 (2 years)

Artistic Consultant (Next Artistic Director) of Drama    OGAWA Eriko

Term as Artistic Consultant: 1 Sept 2016 ~ 31 Aug 2018 (2 years)

Term as Artistic Director: 1 Sept 2018 ~ 31 Aug 2022 (4 years)

 

Profile of the Next Artistic Directors from 2018/19 Season

Next Artistic Director of Opera          ONO Kazushi

Born in Tokyo in 1960. ONO studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and with Wolfgang SAWALLISCH and Giuseppe PATANE at the Bavarian State Opera (Bayerische Staatsoper). In 1987, he won First Prize in the 3rd Toscanini International Conductors' Competition. He was Chief Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra from 1990 to 1996 and General Music Director of the Baden State Opera, Karlsruhe from 1996 to 2002. He was also principal conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1992 to 1999, and currently holds the title of Conductor Laureate with the orchestra. In 2002, he became Music Director of La Monnaie (Brussels). He then became Principal Conductor of the Opéra National de Lyon at the start of the 2008/2009 season and Principal Conductor of Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini between 2012 and 2015. From 2015, he is the music director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra. ONO is the recipient of the 1993 Watanabe Akio Music Foundation Award, 1993 Best Newcomer at the Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts, 1997 Idemitsu Music Award, 2002 Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award, 2009 Exxon Mobil Music Award. Opera production at La Monnaie conducted by ONO has received Prix de L'europe Francophone and Grand Prix of the Palmarès du prix de la critique in 2006. He has also received 2007 Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts, 2008 Medal with Purple Ribbon, 2010 Suntory Music Award, 2010 Japan Art Academy Prize, 2010 Imperial Prize, and Asahi Prize in 2016. ONO is recognized as a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government.

Artistic Director of Ballet & Dance (Reappointed)  OHARA Noriko

Born in Tokyo in 1943. Trained under TACHIBANA Akiko, MAKI Asami, Alexandra DANILOVA, and Igor SCHWEZOFF. After graduating from the Tachibana Ballet School, she entered the Tachibana Ballet Troupe and, in 1956, joined the just-formed Asami Maki Ballet Tokyo. Chosen for the lead role in "Swan Lake" in 1962, and thereafter performed in leading roles in numerous works from classical to contemporary. She went to the United States to study in 1971, then to Great Britain in 1974. Joined the New London Ballet, then moved to the London Festival Ballet, then to the Scottish Ballet. Took up a temporary role at the Basel Ballet in Switzerland in 1977, then in 1978 returned to the Scottish Ballet, where she was the Principal Dancer until 1996. She became the Ballet Mistress of the National Ballet of Japan from 1996, then Deputy Director of Ballet from 2010, and was appointed as the Artistic Director of Ballet and Dance at the New National Theatre, Tokyo in September 2014.

OHARA is the recipient of 1972 Dance Critics' Society Award, 1982 Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts, 1991 Chieko Hattori Award, 1997 Order of the British Empire (OBE), 2004 Medal with Purple Ribbon, 2012 Akiko Tachibana Special Award, 2014 Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette.

Next Artistic Director of Drama          OGAWA Eriko

Born in Tokyo in 1978. OGAWA studied at the Actors Studio MFA Program. Between 2006 and 2007, she was a recipient of Japanese Government Overseas Study Fellowship Program for Artists and stayed in New York. Her recent directorial works include "An Inspector Calls" (2011), "The Pride" (11), "Coming From the Dark"(12), "The Pillowman"(13), "The Homecoming" (13), "The History Boys"(14), "The Lonesome West"(14), " A Behanding in Spokane"(15), "RED"(15), "Nocturnes" (15), and "Ubu Roi"(15). She has also translated plays including "The Late Henry Moss", " A Behanding in Spokane" and "RED".

At the New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT), she has directed "Opus" by M.Hollinger (13), "Constellations" by N. Payne (14) and translated "The Winslow Boy" by T.Rattigan (15). She is scheduled to direct "The Head of Mary: Nagasaki as Theophany" by C. Tanaka in 2017 at NNTT.

OGAWA is the recipient of 2010 Odashima Yushi Drama Translation Award, 2012 Yomiuri Drama Awards Best Director, 2013 Kinokuniya Drama Award, 2013 Senda Koreya Award, 2014 Yomiuri Drama Awards Best Director, and 2015 Kikuta Kazuo Drama Award.