Volume 04, Number 18

Diversions
By Owen Schaefer

Brunello’s Back

You may have missed Mario Brunello’s last concert in Japan. It took place at nine o’clock in the morning in the middle of June—at an altitude of 3,776 meters. At the top of Mount Fuji, the 47-year-old cellist played a solo “concert” to greet the new day, for an audience of backpack-toting classical and contemporary cello fans who braved un-seasonal snow and sore legs to follow him to the summit.

Born in Castelfranco, Veneto, Brunello was the first Italian to win at the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition at age 26, and he’s been reaching new peaks in his career ever since. He has joined some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and played under conductors such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Valeri Gergiev, Seiji Ozawa and Salvatore Accardo. Then in 1994, Brunello founded the Orchestra d’Archi Italiana, a group with a repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary. But Brunello is no stranger to Japan, and regarded the experience on Fuji as something he has wanted to do for many years. He visits Japan annually, makes regular appearances at the Tokyo Summer Festival, has been named Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Kioi Symphony, and has a devoted fanbase here.

The air may be less rarified in the Sumida Triphony Hall, the scenery less expansive, but the music will no doubt be doubly full. In this solo recital, Brunello plans to perform J.S. Bach’s Suite in D-minor for Cello and Cello Suite No.5 in C-minor, along with Giovanni Sollima’s Lamentato, and Zimmermann’s Four Short Studies for Cello. ny Hall. Kinshicho JR Station. ¥3,500–¥6,500. 7pm. Tel. 03-5465-0755. www.arion-edo.org

New Worlds of Drama

When English-language theater does make its way to Tokyo, it is most often comes via the usual suspects—traveling Shakespearian productions from Oxford or Stratford, Broadway musicals, etc. This is all well and good, but what is often conspicuously absent is theater from the fringe. There are very few smaller productions put on with tickets at reasonable prices, and even fewer written by local playwrights.

Enter New Worlds Theatre. The group started in 2006 by playwright Alec Harris, for exactly the above reasons, although Harris doesn’t limit the future of the theatre to English productions alone. He looks at the Tokyo of today as a place where other nationalities are not only visiting, but choosing to live, and explains on the website (www.newworldstheatre. com) that “art should be as diverse as the people it reflects.”

The group’s upcoming offering is entitled 'Laugh,' a set of five plays for one price billed as a fundraising event. Each performance is a comedy piece and four of the five are written by Tokyo residents.

The exception to the rule here is Frenzy for Two by absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco, which follows the senseless arguments of a couple trapped in their house as an undefined war rages outside. Then My Picture of You by Tokyo-based director and writer Claudia Hamann follows what happens when the image we build for ourselves of someone close to us is altered, and two women are forced to make a decision about the man they thought they knew.

Finally, Alec Harris brings on three short pieces: The TV, about a Gen X father attempting to explain the fact of life to a young daughter while watching TV together; Life TM, about a man given the opportunity to choose the kind of life he will be born into in the future; and For Art’s Sake, a pure comedy piece which the writer self-depreciatingly calls “something to put on before the applause and the stampede to the bar.”

More than a dozen actors and writers have come together to put these productions on, and this is a group to keep watching in the future. New Worlds Theatre: Laugh (Sep. 23–24) What The Dickens. Ebisu Station (JR, Metro). ¥2,800. Various times. (Sep. 29– 30) YCAC Yokohama, Yamate JR Station. ¥3,000. Various times. E-mail: tickets@newworldstheatre.com

Listings:

Barry McGee (to Sep. 30) Graffiti and sculptural works by San Francisco artist also known as “Twist.” Watarium Museum. Gaienmae Metro Station. ¥1,000. 11am–7pm. (Tue. to 9pm.) Closed Mon. Tel. 03-3402-3001. www.watarium.co.jp
Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogues (to Oct. 2) Exhibition of 120 Asian works influenced by cubism, traveling through Paris, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo. National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo. Takebashi Metro Station. ¥650. 10am–5pm. (Fri. to 8pm.) Closed Mon. Tel. 03-5777-8600. www.momat.go.jp
Melting Point (to Oct. 14) Installations from three artists, Jim Lambie, Ernest Neto and Kiyomichi Shibuya. Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. Hatsudai Station (Keio Line). ¥900. 11am– 7pm. (to 8pm. Fri. and Sat.) Closed Mon. Tel. 09-5353-0756. www.operacity.jp
Ikuo Hirayama: A Retrospective Pilgrimage for Peace (to Oct. 21) Retrospective of works by the celebrated painter and activist. National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo. Takebashi Metro Station. ¥1,300. 10am–5pm. (Fri. to 8pm.) Closed Mon. Tel. 03-5777-8600. www.momat.go.jp
Zen Treasures from the Kyoto Gozan Temples (to Nov. 9) Some of the most important Zen works collected under one roof. Tokyo National Museum. Ueno Station (JR, Metro). ¥1,500. 9:30am–5pm. (Fri. to 8pm. Closed Mon.) Tel. 03-3822-1111. www.tnm.jp
A World of Stage: Russian designs for theater, opera and dance (to Nov. 17) Paintings, costumes and photographs from the glory period of the Ballets Russes. Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. Meguro Station. ¥1,000. 10am–6pm. Closed Wed. Tel. 03-3443-8500. www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp
Gifts from the World of Dreams : Georges Rouault, Odilon Redon, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Tetsuro Komai (to Dec. 2) Paintings of the strange and dreamlike, from four masters of the mood. Setagaya Art Museum. Yoga Station (Tokyu Denentoshi Line). 10am–6pm. Closed Mon. Tel. 03-3415-6011. www.setagayaartmuseum.or.jp
MOT-Bloomberg: Public ‘Space’ Project (to Jan. 20) Single large-scale installment by Kengo Kito outside of the museum. Museum of Contemporary Art. Kiba Metro Station. Free. 10am–6pm. Closed Monday Tel. 03-5245-4111. www.mot-art-museum.jp
Uzbekistan Film Festival 2007 (Sep. 27–Oct. 7) Ten films from the surprisingly vibrant Uzbek film industry. National Film Center. Kyobashi Metro Station. ¥500 per film. Various times. Tel. 03-3561-0823. www.momat.go.jp
The Marriage of Figaro (Oct. 18–27) Mozart’s comic masterpiece of opera. New National Theatre. Hatsudai Station (Keio Line). ¥3,150–¥21,000. Various times. Tel. 03-5352-9999. www.nntt.jac.go.jp