- Time & Date
- 14:00, Saturday, 21. 11. 2009
- Venue
- TOPPAN HALL, Tokyo
- Performers
- Ondřej Macek (Cembalo)
- Jana Bínová Koucká (S)
- Veronika Mráčková Fučíková (MS)
- Rozálie Kousalíková (Vc)
- Shiho Hiromi (Vn)
- Toshihiko Amano (Vn)
- Mizuyo Kobayashi (Vla)
- Shunsuke Nishimoto (Cb)
- Stage director
- Zuzana Vrbová
- Commentator
- Zuzana Vrbová
- Toshiki Misawa
- Interpreter
- Sakurako Ikeda
- Lighting
- Kenji Nakagawa
- Maki Kidokoro
Please click here
- Ouverture
- Act 1, Scena 1, Serse: Reci. Accomp. 'Frondi tenere'
- Arioso 'Ombra mai fu'
- and others
- Greetings
- Dear Japanese friends of Georg Friedrich Händel!
- I am greatly honoured to have a chance to greet to all of you.
- I am exceptionally happy that I can perform in Japan Handel´s most beautiful operatic arias and duettos this remarkable year, when the cultural world is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the death of our great Baroque music genius.
- Looking forward to your presence at the forthcoming Handel Festival Tokyo I sincerely welcome you.
- Ondřej Macek
- Musical director of the Baroque Ensemble "Cappella Accademica"
- Český Krumlov
- Greetings from the Chairman
- We thank you all for coming to join our 7th Handel Festival Japan (HFJ) today.
- As the Project 3 in the year of the 250th anniversary of Handel' s passing, HFJ is going to have the Authentic Baroque Opera performance in the Castle Theatre in Český Krumlov.
- Nowadays, we have opportunities to see Baroque Opera performance, mainly Handel works, come back to life actively. This is certainly a delightful change. Though, I rather feel uncomfortable with the fact that the interpretation of those performances is way too modern. It is not my intention to deny the modern rendering, however I believe that we need to understand the reality of the Baroque Opera itself to be proud of a long history and tradition.
- It is, of course, difficult or almost impossible that we reproduce everything exactly in the same way as back in those days, such as the theatre, machinery, lighting, costumes and baroque gesture. However, in the Castle Theatre in Český Krumlov, researchers and performers have cooperated to challenge for the most difficult works and have been achieving remarkable results. HFJ wishes to introduce all the activities to Japan, which is not possible for various reasons at this point of time. Therefore, through the Project 3, we would like to introduce you a part of the Baroque Opera performance together with its costumes and baroque gesture.
- Handel's music was closely integrated with baroque gesture from those days. That is, Handel's Opera will start to glow when we appreciate it with our own eyes and ears. HFJ would be more than happy if this project can inspire your interest towards the Baroque Opera reality.
- Last but not least, our special thanks go to "The Asahi Shimbun Foundation for the Arts" , "The Kao Foundation for Arts and Sciences" , "Akira Kubota Harpsichord Workshop" , "Zimaku Plus" , "Ikegami Lutheran Church" , " HFJ Support Club : HANDELIAN" , "Embassy of the Czech Republic in Japan", "Czech Centre Tokyo" , "GEORG-FRIEDRICH-HANDEL-GESELLSCHAFT, Internationale Vereinigung, e.V." , "STIFTUNG HANDEL-HAUS HALLE AN DER SAALE" and "The American Handel Society" for their remarkable support and cooperation.
- November, 2009
- Toshiki Misawa
- Chairman
- Committee of Handel Festival Japan
- (Translated by Naoko Oshima)