A beautiful May

A song and piano concert by members of Opera Theater Konnyakuza, which performs Japanese-language operas composed by Hikaru Hayashi, Kyoko Hagi, and Rikuya Terashima throughout Japan. As Hikaru Hayashi says, "We can be friends even if we don't speak the original language," the singers will express German music in their own words and celebrate the joy of spring. In order for the audience to fully enjoy the world of poetry and music, the first part of the concert will be a program of Italian and Japanese songs, including duets and solos. After that, the second part will consist of music from the late classical period and composers who were in contact with Schumann, so that the audience can understand the history of music until it moved toward the Romantic period. The second part will feature songs by Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn, as well as piano solos by Chopin, and will be performed in the original language (German) so that the audience can appreciate the beauty of the German poetry interwoven with the music.
The third part, which will be the main part of the concert, will consist of "Love of a Poet" and "A Woman's Love and Life of a Woman," a collection of songs by Robert Schumann, a German Romantic composer who wrote "In a Beautiful May" while thinking of his wife, the pianist Clara, as if Robert and Clara were having a conversation. The performance is not in the original German, but a Japanese translation of the singer's original lyrics so that it can be understood in this day and age.

Through the story of Robert Schumann, a composer in the midst of the Romantic period, and his wife Clara, a pianist and the source of his music, the audience will not only "hear" classical music, but also feel its warmth with their whole bodies, enjoy "seeing" it through the images and costumes on stage, and feel it through the words with the original Japanese translation. The original Japanese translation of the lyrics will allow the audience to feel the music through the words. To this end, we are seeking ways to use the stage to bring the performers and audience as close as possible to each other.