The times cast a shadow over a great composer. Now we will find out the truth.

In 1940, a year before the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan had been scheduled to host the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Although that event was cancelled because war broke out in Europe in 1939, the great German composer Richard STRAUSS (1864–1949) had already written a music celebrating 1940’s 2,600th anniversary of the first Empress in Japan.
But why did the great German composer write that music for faraway Japan?
Now the playwright Jun OOKA — who works in SPAC’s literature department — sets out to answer that question in his new suspense play “1940 -Richard Strauss Villa-” based on historical events to which he’s added his imaginative reasoning drawn from STRAUSS’s complicated relationship with Germany ruling Nazi party. After five years’ preparation — with MIYAGI Satoshi, SPAC’s artistic director, at the helm and NODAIRA Ichiro, artistic director of the Concert Hall Shizuoka, in charge of music — OOKA’s play is set to be staged at the Concert Hall Shizuoka, featuring several pieces by STRAUSS and some of his leading contemporaries.

◎Symposium / “From the viewpoint of director & composer “: 29, May at 10:30
Panelists: NODAIRA Ichiro, MIYAGI Satoshi, OOKA Jun

Directed by MIYAGI Satoshi
Music Direction by NODAIRA Ichiro (Artistic Director of CONCERT HALL SHIZUOKA)
Written by OOKA Jun (Literature Department of SPAC)
Performed by SASAKI Noriko (Sop.), TSUMAYA Hidekazu (Bas.), NAKAGAWA Toshio (Pf.), HANAOKA Eiji (Cl.),
SPAC / OKUNO Akihito, KASUGAI Ippei, KIUCHI Kotoko, KONAGAYA Katsuhiko, YOKOYAMA Hisashi, WAKAMIYA Yoichi
(*In order of Japanese names)

Produced by CONCERT HALL SHIZUOKA
Cooperated by SPAC – Shizuoka Performing Arts Center