Artists
Fiordiligi: Samantha Clarke
Dorabella: Rihab Chaieb
Ferrando: Pietro Adaìni
Guglielmo: Alessio Arduini
Despina: Barbara Frittoli
Don Alfonso: Rod Gilfry
Director: Seiji Ozawa
Conductor: Diego Matheuz(Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Principal Conductor)
Stage Director: David Kneuss
Set & Costume Designer: Robert Perdziola
Lighting Design: Masato Takagi
Orchestra: Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra
Chorus: Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Choir
Presented by: Seiji Ozawa Music Academy / VEROZA Japan /
City of Kyoto, ROHM Theatre Kyoto (Kyoto City music art cultural Promoting Foundation) *Kyoto Performances
Co-presented by: Rohm Music Foundation
Kanagawa Kenmin Hall*Yokohama Performance
Sponsored by: ROHM Co., Ltd.
Produced by: VEROZA Japan Company Ltd.
Born 1935 in Shenyang, China. Seiji Ozawa studied piano from a young age, and after graduating from Seijo Junior High School, went on to study conducting under Hideo Saito at the Toho School of Music.
In 1959, he won first prize at the International Competition for Young Conductors held in Besançon, France, and was invited the next summer to Tanglewood by Charles Munch, who was a judge at the competition and music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the time. He later studied under Karajan and Bernstein and went on to serve as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Ravinia Festival, music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and music director of the San Francisco Symphony. In 1973, he became the 13th music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where his tenure of 29 years was the longest in the history of American orchestras.
As music director of BSO, he built the orchestra’s reputation internationally, with successful concerts in Europe in 1976 and Japan in 1978. In 1981, BSO toured 14 cities in America to commemorate its centennial and then executed a worldwide tour in the same year, with stops in Japan, France, Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom. It went on to perform in Europe in 1984, 1988, and 1991, and Japan in 1986, 1989, 1994, and 1999, all to great acclaim. In 1978, Ozawa was officially invited by the Chinese government to work with the China Central Symphony Orchestra for a week. A year later in 1979, Ozawa brought the BSO to become the first American orchestra ever to visit China, facilitating significant cultural and musical exchanges. He has since continued to build a strong relationship with China. He also took the San Francisco Symphony to Moscow (the USSR at the time) in 1973 to perform with Mstislav Rostropovich.
In autumn 2002, Ozawa became the first Asian music director at Wiener Staatsoper, a position he held until spring 2010. His reputation and popularity are enormous in the West, where he conducted many orchestras including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. He also appeared in prominent opera houses such as L’Opéra in Paris, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Opera di Firenze, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In Japan, Ozawa organized memorial concerts in Tokyo and Osaka with Kazuyoshi Akiyama and other colleagues in 1984 to commemorate his mentor, Hideo Saito, on the tenth anniversary of his passing. This later evolved to the Saito Kinen Orchestra, touring Europe in 1987, 1989, and 1990, and in Europe and America in 1991, all to great accolades. These activities led to the inception of Ozawa’s artistic dream in 1992: the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto. Ozawa became director of this international music festival, a role that continues to this day. SKO continued to tour, with overseas concerts in 1994, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2010, and 2011. In 2015, the festival entered a new stage to become the “Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.”
Ozawa has been particularly focused on education. The Chamber Music Academy Okushiga evolved from the Saito Kinen chamber music study group sessions that started in 1996, and in 2011, became the non-profit organization Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy Okushiga to provide opportunities to outstanding students from countries in the Asian region. Ozawa also founded the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project in 2000 and the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra Project in 2009 with the support of the Rohm Music Foundation, working actively to cultivate young musicians through performance. In 2005, he established the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland to educate European music students. Ozawa has also worked closely with the Mito Chamber Orchestra since its founding in 1990, serving as general director of the orchestra as well as director general of Art Tower Mito from 2013. He was also involved in the founding of the New Japan Philharmonic and worked with them for many years.
Ozawa has won many awards in Japan and abroad, including: the Asahi Prize (1985); an Honorary Doctorate from Harvard University (2000); the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class (2002); the Mainichi Art Award (2003); the Suntory Music Prize (2003); an Honorary Doctorate from the Sorbonne University of France (2004); Honorary Membership from the Wiener Staatsoper (2007); France’s Officier de la Légion d’Honneur (2008); Foreign Associated Member in the Académie des Beaux Arts de l’Institut de France (2008); the Order of Culture, which is the highest honor in Japan (2008); Giglio D’Oro by Premio Galileo 2000 Foundation of Italy (2008); the first Japanese national to be bestowed honorary membership to the Vienna Philharmonic (2010); the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association (2011); the Akeo Watanabe Foundation Music Award (2011); and the Kennedy Center Honors (2015). In 2016, the Ravel L’enfant et les sortilèges album conducted by Seiji Ozawa and performed by the Saito Kinen Orchestra that was recorded at the 2013 Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto won the 58th Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. In the same year, he was named Honorary Member by the Berlin Philharmonic and Honorary Citizen of Tokyo. In March 2022, he was chosen to be a member of the Japan Art Academy.
Diego Matheuz belongs to the first generation of outstanding musicians emerging from Venezuela’s El Sistema.
At the age of 39 he can look back at fruitful periods as principal conductor of La Fenice in Venice, principal guest conductor—upon Claudio Abbado’s invitation—of the Orchestra Mozart Bologna, and as principal guest conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
A particularly significant moment in his career was the “Special Gala Concert” celebrating the 120th anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon at Suntory Hall in December 2018, where he exchanged the baton with Seiji Ozawa to conduct the Saito Kinen Orchestra with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Since then, Mr. Matheuz has worked with the Saito Kinen Orchestra upon Seiji Ozawa’s invitation regularly, and in June 2022, he was appointed the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy’s first-ever principal conductor. In Japan, he also worked at the Argerich Music Festival recently, conducting a series of highly successful concerts with Martha Argerich performing Ravel’s Concerto in G.
Other orchestras he conducted include Santa Cecilia, Rome, La Scala Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Spanish National Orchestra, the BBC, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras, National Symphony Orchestra Dublin, Prague Philharmonic, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, OSESP São Paulo, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Diego Matheuz is a regular guest at the major opera houses in Berlin, Barcelona, Rome, Munich, Paris and New York, and at prestigious festivals including the Rossini Festival Pesaro and the Arena di Verona. In Venezuela, he carries out intense periods of formation and expands the repertoire of the Sistema orchestras. In addition, he works with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, of which he is principal conductor.
David Kneuss has recently completed his tenure at the Metropolitan Opera where he served as executive stage director for 25 years and directed nearly 100 productions. In addition to the Met, Mr. Kneuss has also directed productions for the opera companies of: Chicago; San Francisco; Washington, DC; Boston; Portland (Oregon); Bonn (Germany); the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; the English National Opera; and Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Nishinomiya, Japan, where he recently staged Don Giovanni, completing the Mozart/DaPonte trilogy for that company.
Having a career-long association with Seiji Ozawa, Mr. Kneuss first staged opera for Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and Carnegie Hall. In Japan, he has directed more than 30 productions for Ozawa’s music festivals and continues to create productions for the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival and the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, where Mr. Kneuss also serves as Artistic Director, and where he has most recently created his production of Puccini’s La Bohème.
Mr. Kneuss created a production of La damnation de Faust at Matsumoto Castle, which was the first outdoor production ever presented by the Saito Kinen Festival and was seen by an audience of 5,000. His Peter Grimes, a joint venture between the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Saito Kinen Festival, began at the Tanglewood Music Center to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opera’s American premiere and was featured in a film entitled A Tale of Tanglewood.
Mr. Perdziola has designed sets and costumes for the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Boston, Glimmerglass Opera, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School of Drama. Among these designs are Capriccio and Il Pirata for the Met, The Merry Wives of Windsor for Stratford, and Giulio Cesarefor Fort Worth. In 2014, he designed Così fan tutte for the Hyogo Performing Arts Center and Falstaff for the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in Japan. Most recently, he designed The Nutcracker and Swan Lake (sets and costumes) for the Boston Ballet.
Mr. Perdziola received a 2008 Helpmann Award nomination in costume design for Arabella at the Sydney Opera House. In 2006, he designed costumes for the world premiere of David Carlson and Colin Graham’s new opera, Anna Karenina, performed at the Florida Grand Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In the UK, he has designed Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte at the Garsington Opera. Other works in Europe include Così fan tutte (Opera Monte Carlo) and Gounod’s Faust (Niedersachsische Staatsoper Hannover). His designs for theatre are frequently featured at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC.
Mr. Perdziola is the recipient of three Helen Hayes Awards for costume design (The Country Wife, Don Carlos, and Lady Windermere’s Fan) and the Irene Sharaff Young Master Award. Ballet designs include works for American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. He is on the board of directors for the Tobin Foundation for Theatre Arts.
Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke is the winner of the 2019 Guildhall Gold Medal and prize winner in the 2019 Grange International Festival Singing Competition. She studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, as a Sir John Fisher Foundation and Independent Opera Scholar, under the tutelage of Mary Plazas.
She is a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Opera School as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar, Help Musicians, Tait Memorial, and Countess of Munster Trust Scholar, and studied with Yvonne Kenny.
In addition to the 2019 Guildhall Gold Medal, Ms. Clarke is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Leverhulme Royal Northern College of Music Award, the Dame Eva Turner Award, and the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for the singing of Strauss.
Her operatic roles include: Violetta La traviata, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte, Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Countess Le nozze di Figaro, Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress, The Governess The Turn of the Screw, and Theodora.
Recent and future engagements include Violetta La traviata with Opera Australia and West Australian Opera, a US tour with John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir and orchestra, Marzelline Fidelio and Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte at Grange Festival and Opera Queensland, Countess Le nozze di Figaro at Garsington, Theodora for Pinchgut Opera, her Proms debut in Mozart Requiem, Messiah and War Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in Tasmania. Ms. Clarke features on the Resonus Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs recording with accompanist Dylan Perez.
In 2023/24, Tunisian - Canadian mezzo Rihab Chaieb will perform as Carmen at Glyndebourne Festival, Claire
Melancholia with the Royal Swedish Opera. Next seasons include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Canadian Opera Company, Opera de Montreal, Bregenz Festival, Festival San Sebastian, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philhadelphia Orchestra, and the BBC Proms.
Last season, Ms. Chaieb debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Fenena Nabucco under Daniele Rustioni, and at the LA Opera as Cherubino in James Gray’s Le nozze di Figaro under James Conlon. She performed as Carmen at the Canadian Opera Company and Calgary Opera and returned to the Grand Théâtre de Genève in the world premiere of Jost’s Voyage vers l’espoir as La mère Meryem.
On the concert platform, Ms. Chaieb appeared with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Otto Tausk for Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, and debuted as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. Recent successes include her debuts at the Washington National Opera as Dorabella Così fan tutte, Palm Beach Opera as Carmen, Houston Grand Opera in the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix, return to Opéra national de Montpellier as Maddalena Rigoletto, and to the Metropolitan Opera as Nefertiti in Phelim McDermott’s production of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten, under Karen Kamensek. Other roles include Penelope Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria on tour and for a recording with Ensemble I Gemelli, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia at Cincinnati Opera, and as Offenbach’s Fantasio at Opéra national de Montpellier, Dorabella at Teatro Santiago de Chile, Kasturbai in Philip Glass’s Satyagraha at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, and Carmen in Lydia Steier’s production at the Oper Köln.
Young Sicilian tenor, he began studying with baritone Salvo Todaro; in 2011 he attended a masterclass with tenor Marcello Giordani and currently is studying with Salvatore Fisichella.
In 2011/12 he was a finalist in the International Singing Competition Voci dal Mediterraneo—Premio Archimede.
In 2014 he won a scholarship at the Teatro Carlo Felice where he debuted singing Rodolfo in “La Bohème” and Nemorino in “L’elisir d’amore”. In 2015 he obtained a personal success with the public as Albazar in “Il turco in Italia”. He attended the “Gran Prix of the Opera” in Parma, while in Cagliari he performed in Puccini’s “Messa di Gloria”, at the Sferisterio of Macerata he sang Beppe/Arlecchino in “Pagliacci”, and Ernesto in “Don Pasquale” in Bergamo, Como, Cremona, Pavia, and Jesi.
Among engagements during the past years: “La Cenerentola”, “La fille du regiment”, “Olivo e Pasquale”, “Falstaff”, “Il barbiere di Siviglia”, “L’itliana in Algeri”, “Il cappello di paglia di Firenze”.
Recently he sang “La scala di seta” in Oman, “Rigoletto” conducted by Daniel Oren in Salerno, “La sonnambula” at the Regio di Torino, “Gianni Schicchi” in Ancona and Brescia, “Lucia di Lammermoor” at the Teatro Filarmonico, “Il Viaggio a Reims” in Rome, at the Bolshoi, and in Verona, “La vedova allegra” at the Carlo Felice, a special Gala for Rolex (recorded by MediciTv) and the concert for the birthday of Rossini in Pesaro, Messiah in Catania, “La Gazzetta” and “Cantata in onore del Sommo Pontefice Pio IX” at the Rossini Opera Festival and “Le postillon de Lonjumeau” at the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl.
Future engagements include: Rossini’s “Stabat Mater” in Verona, “La Cenerentola” in Lima and at Teatro Filarmonico, and “L’equivoco stravagante” at Rossini Opera Festival.
Alessio Arduini was born in Desenzano del Garda in 1987. He approached opera singing at the age of 15, improving his technique and repertoire for several years. In 2010, he received a grant from the Lina Aimaro Bertasi Foundation and also debuted in Mozart’s Don Giovanni title role staged by the Como Teatro Sociale on the Pocket Opera regional circuit.
The following season, he returned to the Pocket Opera circuit in Le nozze di Figaro (Conte d’Almaviva) appearing in among others: Don Giovanni at Teatro Comunale, I Puritani (Riccardo) at Teatro Ponchielli, Così fan tutte (Guglielmo) at Teatro Regio and Teatro La Fenice, La Bohème (Schaunard) at Teatro La Fenice, Salzburg Festival, and Wiener Staatsoper, then again Don Giovanni at Teatro Petruzzelli and Wiener Staatsoper (Masetto).
Among recent and future engagements: Pagliacci with Christian Thielemann at the Salzburg Festival and in Turin, Così fan tutte in Salzburg, the Royal Opera House, La Scala, Lille, Korea, and in Naples with Riccardo Muti, Don Giovanni and Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra national de Paris, Don Pasquale, L’elisir d’amore in Vienna, his US debut in La Bohème at the Metropolitan and in London, Paris, Vienna, La Scala, Genova, and Venice, Die Zauberflöte in Florence, Rome, Don Giovanni in Dresden, Rome, Hamburg, and Venice, La Cenerentola in Paris, Vienna, Padua, and Amsterdam, Le nozze di Figaro in Ravenna with Muti, in Brussels, Vienna, and Hamburg, Don Giovanni and Manon Lescaut in Palermo, Il turco in Italia in Glyndenbourne and La Scala, Così fan tutte, Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna, and Roméo et Juliette at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Turandot in Paris, Venice, Dresden, Naples, Strasbourg, Palermo, and Geneva.
Barbara Frittoli graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory with honors. Rated as one of the leading lirico-spinto sopranos of her generation, she has won numerous international competitions and established a major international operatic career in the 1990s. She has proved to be one of the best interpreters of Mozart, obtaining a success with audiences and critics at major theatres and festivals around the world.
Among her most important performances are Le nozze di Figaro (Countess of Almaviva) in Ferrara, Otello (Desdemona) at the Salzburg Festival and the Teatro Regio with Claudio Abbado, Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi) at the Wiener Staatsoper and at the Ravenna Festival with Riccardo Muti, also performed at Covent Garden with Colin Davis.
Mimì and Micaëla were Ms. Frittoli’s roles in her first season with the Metropolitan Opera, and she was Micaëla when she sang at the Royal Opera House. She has also appeared in La Monnaie, the Opéra Bastille, the Teatro Comunale of Florence, and Teatro Regio. She toured in China with the Maggio Musicale of Florence as Liù in Turandot, which included the famous performance known as ‘Turandot in the Forbidden City’ and has been recorded under Zubin Mehta’s direction on the RCA label. Other recordings include Puccini’s Il Trittico on Decca, Il barbiere di Siviglia on Teldec, Il viaggio a Reims on Sony, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater on EMI, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater on Decca. Winner of the Echo Klassik Award 2001 for Singer of the Year, 2010 winner of the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album. Appearances in 2023 include Cavalleria rusticana (US), Mozart’s Requiem (Teatro Olimpico Vicenza), lyric concerts with Toronto Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Un ballo in maschera (Opera Carolina).
American baritone Rod Gilfry, whom The New York Times describes as “a tour-de-force…[who] sings every phrase with crisp diction and dramatic point, delivering phrases with virile energy, sudden bluster, or, during vulnerable moments, an aching confusion that takes you by surprise...” is a two-time Grammy award nominee, singer and actor, and has performed in all of the world’s music capitals. His most recent Grammy award nomination was for his performance in the title role of Messiaen’s monumental opera Saint François d’Assise in Amsterdam.
In the 2023/24 season, Rod Gilfry opened the Metropolitan Opera season as Owen Hart in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in a new production by Ivo Van Hove, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. With San Francisco Opera, he will sing the Father-in-Law in the North American premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence, and Claudius in Brett Dean’s Hamlet with Opera Australia in Melbourne. In concert, Mr. Gilfry joins Renée Fleming in a gala performance with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and a gala with Detroit Opera, celebrating the appointment of Roberto Kalb as music director.
Mr. Gilfry devoted an entire season to the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, starring as Emile de Becque in the US National Tour of the Lincoln Center production of South Pacific, a production that garnered seven Tony awards. He also appeared as Captain von Trapp with the Théâtre du Châtelet in The Sound of Music, with his daughter Carin Gilfry in the role of his daughter Liesl. A lifelong Californian, he resides in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife Tina.
2024 Cosi fan tutte PR movie
Opera for Children
Mozart: Così fan tutte Act 1
March 12, 2024 (Tue)
ROHM Theatre Kyoto
Fiordiligi: Yurie Takano
Dorabella: Shoko Sogo
Ferrando: Shion Nishiyama
Guglielmo: Yuichiro Ichikawa
Despina: Ikumi Nakagawa
Don Alfonso: Soshiro Ide
Music Director: Seiji Ozawa
Conductor: Diego Matheuz
Director: David Kneuss
Orchestra: Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra
Chorus: Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Choir
Presented by: Seiji Ozawa Music Academy / VEROZA Japan /
City of Kyoto, ROHM Theatre Kyoto (Kyoto City music art cultural Promoting Foundation)
Co-presented by: Rohm Music Foundation
Sponsored by: ROHM Co., Ltd
DirectorSeiji Ozawa
ConductorDiego Matheuz
Stage DirectorDavid Kneuss
Set & Costume DesignerRobert Perdziola
Fiordiligi:Samantha Clarke
Dorabella:Rihab Chaieb
Ferrando:Pietro Adaìni
Guglielmo:Alessio Arduini
Despina:Barbara Frittoli
Don Alfonso:Rod Gilfry