Appointment of the next Artistic Director for the Opera Division The New National Theatre Foundation is pleased to announce that at a meeting held on June 15, 2005, the Board of Directors appointed Mr. Wakasugi Hiroshi to become Artistic Consultant on July 1, 2005, which will be followed by him assuming the post of Artistic Director for the Opera Division for the next term. Mr. Wakasugi will serve as Artistic Consultant from July 1, 2005 to August 31, 2007 (two years and two months) and as Artistic Director from September 1, 2007 to August 31, 2010 (three years). <Profile of Wakasugi Hiroshi> Mr. Wakasugi Hiroshi was born on May 31, 1935. He graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a bachelor’s degree in conducting. After working for the Darmstadt Opera and the Dortmund Opera, he became General Music Director of the German Opera on the Rhine (which has opera houses in Duisburg and Düsseldorf). Later, he became permanent conductor at the Dresden State Opera and conductor of the Bavarian State Opera. Currently he is the permanent conductor at the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director for the Center for the Performing Arts, Shiga (Biwako Hall), and Artistic Director for the Tokyo Chamber Opera. Mr. Wakasugi is also professor emeritus at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and a member of the Japan Art Academy.