Appointment of the Chairman, President, Artistic Directors and Next Artistic Director of Ballet & Dance


As of 28th of June, the Board of Directors of the New National Theatre Foundation has appointed NAKANISHI Hiroaki, the chairman of the Japan Business Federation, as the Chairman and reappointed OZAKI Motoki as the President.

ONO Kazushi (the current Artistic Consultant of Opera) as the Artistic Director of Opera and OGAWA Eriko (the current Artistic Consultant of Drama) as the Artistic Director of Drama from 2018/2019 Season. Also, YOSHIDA Miyako is appointed as the Artistic Consultant of Ballet & Dance (Next Artistic Director from 2020/21 Season).



Chairman              NAKANISHI Hiroaki            


Term: 1 July 2018 ~ 31 March 2020



President (Reappointed)      OZAKI Motoki


Term: 28 June 2018 ~ June 2020

Artistic Director of Opera     ONO Kazushi

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

Artistic Director of Drama    OGAWA Eriko

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

Artistic Consultant of Ballet & Dance     YOSHIDA Miyako

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

Term as Artistic Director: 1 Sept 2020 ~ 31 Aug 2024 (4 years)



Profile of the Next Artistic Director from 2020/21 Season

Next Artistic Director of Ballet & Dance  YOSHIDA Miyako


Born and trained in Tokyo, she joined The Royal Ballet School in 1983, after winning the Prix de Lausanne. In 1984, she joined Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet) and was promoted to Principal in 1988, and in 1995 she joined The Royal Ballet until 2010. Now acting as a dancer of freelance.

Her repertory includes Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Lise in La Fille mal gardee, the title role in Gissele, Swanilda in Coppelia, Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker, Kitri in the Don Quixote, the title role in Cinderella, the title role in Ondine, Chloe in Daphnis and Choloe, Tchaikovsky pas de deux, Le Corsaire, Homage to The Queen and leading roles in Prince of the Pagodas, Symphonic Variations, Elite Syncopations and the title role in Snow Queen.

Her awards include the Global Award in 1989, the Arts Encouragement Prize for Artists of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan in 2001, an OBE (Order of the British Empire), the Purple Ribbon Medal from the Emperor of Japan in 2007, Mainichi Art Award in 2011 and DSC Award in 2012.
She is recognized as a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government in 2017.

She was appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2004 and UNHCR Artist in 2012.

She joined Prix de Lausanne three times as a judge since 2009.