The New National Theatre, Tokyo, will open its 2014-15 season with "Parsifal," the last completed opera by German composer Richard Wagner (1813-83). While opera fans will no doubt be thrilled at the long-awaited performance of this piece at the theater, they can expect an additional treat as Taijiro Iimori makes his debut as NNTT's new artistic director of opera, conducting the piece himself.
"My career has always moved forward with operas," the 73-year-old Iimori tells The Japan Times. The maestro is known in classical music circles as a leading expert in Wagner.
Iimori has been immersed in both classical music and the theatrical arts since childhood. While studying at Tokyo's Toho Gakuen School of Music under renowned cellist and conductor Hideo Saito, Iimori gravitated toward opera, and served as stand-in repetiteur at the Fujiwara Opera company. It was there that he met its founder, Yoshie Fujiwara (1898-1976), a leading tenor at the time.