author

 
Menu
Search
 
July 19, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Benjamin Woodward
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2008
"The Cunning Little Vixen" at Saito Kinen Festival
The Saito Kinen Festival continues to showcase opera from off the beaten track with a production of Leos Janacek's "The Cunning Little Vixen," conducted by festival founder Seiji Ozawa. First performed in 1924 and fashioned out of a newspaper comic strip, this breezy, bucolic fable is Janacek at his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2007
A passion for the classics
Mention "Die Soldaten," B.A. Zimmermann's dark, uncompromising and harrowing work of 1960s modernism, and Hiroshi Wakasugi visibly brightens. It's the first season for this highly respected conductor as artistic director of Tokyo's New National Theater, and he's clearly very, very pleased that he has...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2007
Nights at the opera: picks for the upcoming season
With the publication last week of the new Michelin Guide, the world may now know Tokyo to be the culinary capital that it is. Opera, on the other hand, lags slightly behind, although compared to many other cities there is still an embarrassment of riches, writes Benjamin Woodward.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 26, 2007
Playing to tell her tales
Storytelling lies at the heart of Japanese pianist Yu Kosuge's art.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 12, 2007
Be baffled and awed
The New National Theatre, under the aegis of recently appointed director Hiroshi Wakasugi, opens its 2007/8 season with Richard Wagner's 1845 grand Romantic opera "Tannhauser."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2007
Soundtrack of the summer: Seiji Ozawa
Under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, some of Japan's top classical musicians gather each year for roughly a month of opera and orchestral concerts. The Saito Kinen Festival showcases an opera, usually something a little offbeat, and this year it's Tchaikovsky's "Pikovaya Dama" ("The Queen of Spades"), based...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2007
Soundtrack of the summer: Andrey Boreyko
With tickets for Italian maestro Riccardo Muti's concerts sold out, Russian conductor Andrey Boreyko's concert with Russian pianist and former International Tchaikovsky Competition gold medalist Boris Berezovsky is a good and by-no-means lesser alternative. In fact, it probably has the more interesting...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 23, 2006
The real Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The genius, the divinely inspired child, the idiot savant, the skilled populist craftsman, the underappreciated artist in his time who died tragically young in anonymous penury. Every generation makes of him what they will; the legends abound. And 250 years after his birth in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2005
Puccini's masterpiece transcends its age
Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" is one of most beloved operas of all time. Musically rich, dramatically taut and shamelessly wringing every last drop of sentiment from its tale of innocence betrayed, it shows Puccini at the top of his form. Yet its seductive beauty and the emotional immediacy disguise...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2005
The Alban Berg Quartett know Schubert inside out
The Alban Berg Quartett occupies a near-legendary position among string quartets. Their technical fluency, the beauty of their playing, the harmony of their interpretation -- have left critics searching for superlatives and ensured their constant demand in recital halls around the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 27, 2005
Russian diva's voice to die for
"Russians always need a little shit in our lives. If everything is good and we seem completely happy, then we become suspicious of that." This is Russian opera star Anna Netrebko's philosophy -- slightly incongruous for one who, at a glance, seems to have it all and to be enjoying every bit of it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 13, 2005
Kent Nagano conducts former collaborator Takemitsu
Kent Nagano is nothing if not a very busy man. The musical director of the Los Angeles Opera, the artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin, and the guest director of many world-famous orchestras, the California native is in demand as one of the most popular opera...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 16, 2005
A baroque approach
With his keen, adventurous musical intellect and an interpretative idiosyncrasy that breathes new life into the standard repertoire, Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey is fast assuming a hallowed place in the cellist pantheon. Influenced by the revolutionary Early Music movement in the Netherlands under...
Triple whammy takes Japan bankruptcies to decade high
More Japanese firms have gone bankrupt in the first half of this year due to soaring costs, labor shortages and the end of pandemic-related support.
With eye on China, Japan deepens ties with Pacific islands at Tokyo summit
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Cook Islands' Prime Minister Mark Brown shake hands during 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting on Thursday in Tokyo.
Say cheese: Japanese scientists make robot face 'smile' with living skin
A researcher at the University of Tokyo shows a face mold covered in human skin tissue at its lab.
Rainy season ends in Tokai and Kanto regions
The streets of Tokyo's Ginza district on Thursday. The rainy season appears to have ended in the regions of Tokai and Kanto, including Tokyo, on Thursday, according to the Meteorological Agency.
India’s envoy in Japan calls for boosted supply chain and defense cooperation
Indian Ambassador Sibi George says one of his main tasks in his post is to boost Japanese public and private investments the South Asian powerhouse.
After Tokyo Olympic disappointment, Nadeshiko Japan look for redemption
Japan's Hikaru Kitagawa dribbles past a defender during an Olympic qualifying match against North Korea at National Stadium in Tokyo in February.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Festival overcomes a nuclear accident and COVID
Festival overcomes a nuclear accident and COVID

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER