HANJO

One important aspect of Catapult Opera’s mission is to expand the operatic canon by presenting masterpieces from non-Western and under-represented cultures.

Our first live offering will be Hanjo by Toshio Hosokowa. The opera’s libretto was adapted from one of Yukio Mishima’s Five Modern Noh Plays and was translated by Donald Keene. Though “Hanjo” premiered in Aix-en-Provence in 2004, it has never been performed in the United States. Catapult will be presenting the US premiere of this opera, which is an example of Japanese story-telling brilliantly realized by one of Japan’s most important living composers of classical music.

Hanjo is the story of two women who make a refuge in each other against the world. The stability of their existence is threatened when a man arrives to reclaim the younger of the two. Hanjo expresses the fragility of the lives that we construct for ourselves when challenged by events beyond our control.

Catapult’s production will be directed and choreographed by Luca Veggetti, a frequent collaborator of Hosokowa, who will be reunited with Catapult’s Artistic Director, Neal Goren to conduct this production. Veggetti and Goren presented the US premiere of Hosokowa’s The Raven for the first New York Philharmonic biennial in 2014 and the US stage premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Tempest Songbook in the following year. The internationally-acclaimed Talea Ensemble will provide the orchestral element and acclaimed theatre artist Saori Tsukada will complete the cast, performing a silent role created specifically for this production.