Mostly Mozart Festival to Revive NINAGAWA MACBETH

This summer's Mostly Mozart Festival marks an expansion, as it significantly increases the size and scope of its multidisciplinary presentations, enhances its commitment to the music of our own time, and extends its geographical footprint to include Central Park and Brooklyn. Paying homage to Mozart's artistry and ingenuity, this summer's programs encompass major landmark international productions in all disciplines, concerts by both emerging and eminent creative voices, and commissions and world premieres.

The 1980 premiere of Yukio Ninagawa's Japanese-language production of Macbeth was a watershed moment in global theater. Transposing Shakespeare's tragedy from medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, Ninagawa created a breathtaking world filled with samurai, kabuki witches, a highly expressive cherry tree, and a musical score of Buddhist chant and western classical music.

This revival-the last production overseen by the legendary director before his death in 2016-stars two of Japan's most acclaimed actors, Masachika Ichimura in the title role and Yuko Tanaka as Lady Macbeth. The four Mostly Mozart Festival performances will be the work's final, before it is retired.

Additional details on NINAGAWA Macbeth follow below. Music and dance presentations round out the Mostly Mozart Festival's offerings later this month and into August. The full festival lineup, including a film screening and discussions with artists and outside experts that delve further into the season's themes, is available at MosltyMozartFestival.org.

NINAGAWA Macbeth
Saturday, July 21 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, July 22 at 5:00 pm
Tuesday, July 24 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, July 25 at 7:30 pm
David H. Koch Theater
By William Shakespeare
Translated by Yushi Odashima
Masachika Ichimura, Macbeth (Mostly Mozart Festival debut)
Yuko Tanaka, Lady Macbeth (Mostly Mozart Festival debut)
Yukio Ninagawa, director

Created in 1980, Yukio Ninagawa's exquisitely striking "legendarily beautiful" Japanese-language production of Macbeth (Independent, U.K.) is a landmark of global theater. The painterly director, who died in 2016, transposed Shakespeare's Scottish play to feudal Japan, where the title character is an honor-bound samurai, kabuki witches cast spells, and Buddhist chants alternate with works by Samuel Barber and Schubert. This revival of the original production stars Masachika Ichimura as Macbeth and Yuko Tanaka as Lady Macbeth. Lincoln Center will present the final staging of this beloved production before it is retired.

Performed in Japanese with English supertitles

The 2018 Mostly Mozart Festival presentation of NINAGAWA Macbeth is made possible in part by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.

Additional support is provided by The Japan Foundation, New York.

Corporate support is provided by Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, J.C.C. Fund, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal U.S.A., Inc.

Photo Credit: Piet Defossez

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