September highlights

This September is, so to speak, 'Verdi month' in Tokyo. In the beginning and middle, La Scala visits Tokyo with Aida (4, 6, 9, 11) and Don Carlo (8, 12, 13, 15, 17). Daniel Barenboim conducts the former with Franco Zeffirelli's staging and the latter Daniele Gatti with Stéphane Braunschweig's. Well-known singers will play, such as René Pape, Barbara Frittoli, Ramón Vargas, Violeta Urmana and Dalibor Jenis.
After La Scala's promising tour, New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) puts Otello on the stage as its 2009/10 season opening in the end of the month (20, 23, 26, 29 and 3 and 6 October). Riccardo Frizza, who led successful Macbeth (2005) and Aida (2008) at the theatre, conducts Tokyo Philharmonic in a new staging by Mario Martone with Stephan Gould as the title role, Tamar Iveri as Desdemona (standing in for Norma Fantini) and Lucio Gallo as Jago.
His rival, Wagner, appears at Bunkamura in the beginning (3 and 5) with Tokyo Philharmonic and Taijiro Iimori. The third act of Die Walküre is mainly played in concert form titled as Wagner Gala Concert. Cancellation of Alan Titus due to illness is sorry but the orchestra played the work splendidly in this April under the direction of Dan Ettinger in the pit of NNTT. Kathryn Foster, Ralf Lukas (replacing Titus) and others will sing.