Tokyo's 2025 cultural calendar is brimming with artistry, from the playful operatic tales of 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' to the evocative symphonies of Beethoven and Strauss. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra stands at the heart of this artistic celebration, presenting a medley of operatic, orchestral, and ballet performances. Highlights include a unique 1960s Spanish twist on Rossini's classic opera, the enchanting ballet adaptation of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', and a series of distinguished concerts featuring both timeless classics and contemporary interpretations.

A Cultural Symphony: Tokyo's Diverse Artistic Offerings in 2025

Embark on a melodious journey as the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra presents a series of diverse and captivating concerts throughout the summer of 2025. From Tchaikovsky's masterpieces to innovative operatic compositions, these events promise to bring the timeless beauty of orchestral music to life. Featuring renowned violinists, conductors, and a mix of classical and contemporary works, this season's lineup is a testament to the orchestra's artistic prowess and commitment to musical excellence.

A Symphony of Seasons: Tokyo Philharmonic's 2025 Concerts

The New National Theatre in Tokyo is set to host a remarkable series of opera and ballet performances featuring iconic works like 'La Traviata', 'Raymonda', and 'Swan Lake'. This season, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra brings to life the stories of love, tragedy, and triumph with an array of talented performers from around the globe. From the tragic fate of Violetta in Verdi's masterpiece to the enchanting choreography of Petipa's ballet, each event promises an unforgettable experience for all attendees.

Tokyo's Opera and Ballet Extravaganza: A Season of Artistic Masterpieces

The Nutcracker is a winter tradition at the New National Theatre Tokyo -- a long-beloved work evolving through different versions over the years since the theatre first opened. In the 2025/2026 Season, English choreographer Will Tuckett has created an original new production for the New National Theatre Tokyo. Developing not only in ballet but also in theatre and cross-genre works mixing various other artistic forms, Will Tuckett has won numerous awards, including an Olivier Award, and is globally active. This is the second work that he has created for the National Ballet of Japan, following the world premiere of The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2023. Together with Colin Richmond, the set and costume designer who also worked on The Tragedy of Macbeth, Tuckett creates a sweet and colourful world for The Nutcracker. We hope that you will enjoy this special event, set to be a new holiday tradition perfect for celebrating the Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day season.

EPSG:4326

The Nutcracker

New National Theatre

With direction, choreography, set and costume design and lighting by Teshigawara Saburo, a dancer whose impeccable aesthetic sense has captivated audiences worldwide, this production of Orfeo ed Euridice once again brings to life a hauntingly beautiful world merging opera and dance. This intense and dynamic production shifting between life and death, between light and darkness, won the hearts of not only opera and dance fans but of art lovers everywhere. The broadcast of this production on OperaVision after the theatre performance has also generated considerable interest.

Orpheus and Eurydice

The 107th Holiday Afternoon Concert

Tokyo Opera City Tower

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra Europe Tour 2025

De Singel

Palau de la Música Catalana

LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura

Wiener Konzerthaus

Berliner Philharmonie

Müpa Budapest

The 174th Subscription Concert in Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall

A much-loved repertoire of the National Ballet of Japan. This production, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, is among the best of many "Cinderella" ballets, and has been performed by the Royal Ballet and other leading ballet companies around the world. It is a valuable repertoire for the National Ballet of Japan, the only ballet company in Japan to have it in its repertoire. The audience will be entranced by this production of Cinderella; the fairies of the four seasons dancing to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, the amazing transformation when Cinderella's magic spell wears off at the stroke of midnight and the humorous portrayal of the ugly step-sisters.

Cinderella

The 1025th Subscription Concert in Suntory Hall

ARK Hills

The 28th Shibuya Afternoon Concert

Bunkamura

The 40th Weekday Afternoon Concert

The 1024th Subscription Concert in Bunkamura Orchard Hall

Set in 19th century Paris, this opera depicts the pure love of the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimì, and the impoverished yet free spirit of young artists with dreams of future success. This romantic story is interwoven with dulcet melodies typical of Puccini. The scene featuring the famous arias "Che gelida manina" and "Mi chiamano Mimì" stands out among many operas as a beautiful scene of love. This production is packed with highlights, including the bustling Quartier Latin on the Christmas, the beautiful yet sorrowful vocal quartet of the lovers on their decision to part ways, and the moving final scene. The stage design is a portrayal resembling real Paris from the time, a major feat by director Jun Aguni . The psychological characterizations carefully woven throughout each act are deeply evocative.

La Bohème

The 106th Holiday Afternoon Concert

The 1023rd Subscription Concert in Bunkamura Orchard Hall

The 173rd Subscription Concert in Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall

The 1022nd Subscription Concert in Suntory Hall

Heartful Concert in 2025

This new opera work by Hosokawa Toshio is staged as the third in Artistic Director Ono's series of commissioned works from Japanese composers. Hosokawa Toshio is a leading composer of contemporary music who has created commissioned work for the world's major orchestras, musical festivals and opera houses. Natasha is the first opera by Hosokawa to be staged at the NNTT since Matsukaze in 2018, as well as his second opera to be world premiered by Ono Kazushi, the first being Hanjo, commissioned by the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, in 2004.

Natasha

The 105th Holiday Afternoon Concert

Festa Summer MUZA KAWASAKI 2025

MUZA Kawasaki

The 39th Weekday Afternoon Concert

The 27th Shibuya Afternoon Concert

The 104th Holiday Afternoon Concert

The 1021st Subscription Concert in Bunkamura Orchard Hall

The 172nd Subscription Concert in Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall

The 1020th Subscription Concert in Suntory Hall

The 171st Subscription Concert in Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall

The 1019th Subscription Concert in Suntory Hall

The 1018th Subscription Concert in Bunkamura Orchard Hall

Based on "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by the famous British author Lewis Carroll. This production premiered at the Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom in 2011, enabled by a prominent line-up of artists, including British horeographer Christopher Wheeldon, film and television music composer Joby Talbot, and multiple award-winning designer, Bob Crowley. It has swept the world and become part of the repertoire of the world's leading ballet companies. In Japan, the only ballet company with permission to perform this piece is the National Ballet of Japan. We trust you will enjoy this wonderfully entertaining and artistic work.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland© by Christopher Wheeldon

The 38th Weekday Afternoon Concert

The 26th Shibuya Afternoon Concert

The witty story development and enjoyable, lyrical vocal performances make this opera Rossini's most popular work. The exhilarating love story unfolds with the action of Figaro eventually making the match between the sheltered Rosina and Il Conte d'Almaviva. The spectacular music includes the famous opening overture that bursts into a Rossini Crescendo, Figaro's "Largo al factotum" ("Make way for the handyman"), in which the barber goes on about his pride, and Rosina's cavatina about love, "Una voce poco fa" ("A voice a while back"), famous for coloraturas. The production by Josef E. Köpplinger is set in Francoist Spain in the late 1960s.The comedy unfolds based on the delicate balance of power and vice, with the pop, kitsch mood of the 1960s expressed through colourful art.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Bunkyo Civic Hall Symphonic Series Vol. 83

Bunkyo Civic Center

2021/2022 Season will open with a new production of the bel canto opera masterpiece, "La Cenerentola". This opera buffa is one of the most admired piece by the Italian greatest composer Gioachino ROSSINI, and is an opera version of the familiar Cinderella story. This masterpiece is brimming with all the appeal of the composer, from the delightful ensembles and the richly ornate arias to the swelling climax with agilita. Angelina's aria "Naqui all'affano, al pianto" in the final act is a magnificent mezzo-soprano aria and is often performed on its own.</p>
<p>The production is directed by AGUNI Jun, one of the best directors at interpreting Italian operas. The title role of Angelina is performed by WAKIZONO Aya, who is based in Italy and whose talent further blossoms with the passing of the years. Don Ramiro is performed by the talented Rossini singer René BARBERA, who appeared with WAKIZONO in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" in 2020. In the role of Don Magnifico is the famous basso-buffo, Alessandro CORBELLI, while Alidoro is performed by Gabriele SAGONA, who has been acclaimed for many bel canto roles. Expectations are high for this sparkling ensemble. Bel Canto opera has been becoming a popular genre at NNTT year by year, and "La Cenerentola" conveys the sheer pleasure of opera as it opens the new season.

La Cenerentola

Opera Palace

This special programme is for the enjoyment of children and grownups alike. Witness the birth of a new opera, performed by Alter 3, an android with artificial life who makes friends with children in the chorus as they sing and perform together. This opera brings together an android and children, professional opera singers and the New National Theatre Chorus, ballet dancers and orchestra and video and design, inviting us into a world of coexistence and technology.

Super Angels

La Traviata is set in the world of Parisian high society. This popular opera tells the story of the courtesan, Violetta Valéry: her loves and her sad fate. It is based on the dramatic adaptation of the romantic novel, "La Dame aux Camélias" by Alexandre Dumas fils, modeled by the author on the high-class mistress, Marie Duplessis. Giuseppe Verdi then took the story, making its heroine a contemporary woman, and writing an innovative opera in which he raised the role of the music itself to that of expressing the story's emotions. Starting with "Libiamo ne' lieti calici", which has become a well-known, staple tune of gala concerts, the work features numerous other famous songs, such as Violetta's most technically demanding aria, "Ah, fors'è lui-sempre libera", in the prelude foretelling tragedy, and Germont's "Di Provenza il mar, il suol".

La Traviata

This is a classic ballet which takes place in the age of Crusades, and it features possibly the last great choreography by Marius Petipa, and beautiful music composed by Alexander Glazunov. At NNTT, this classic masterpiece "Raymonda" was produced anew in October 2004. Asami Maki's intricate choreography and interpretation, modern and brisk staging, and Luisa Spinatelli's effective use of colors, costumes, and devices were all well received and it won the Asahi Performing Arts Award that year. This production was also invited to Japan Festival at the Kennedy Center in February 2008.

Raymonda

"L'elisir d'amore" is a masterpiece by Gaetano DONIZETTI, best known for his bel canto operas. It is the story of Nemorino, a youth who hears the story of how a potion made Tristan und Isolde fall in love and sets out to woo Adina, the most beautiful woman in the village. The music itself directly conveys the characters of Nemorino, the lead character, unable to convey his love as he feels it, and of Adina whose heart is in a tumult for love. At every turn we get a real feel for DONIZETTI's skill, such as in the supreme musical moment in the opera when Nemorino sings "Una furtiva lagrima", or in the bright and distinctive Sergeant Belcore, the villain of the piece, or in Dr. Dulcamara's witty personality. The lively voice of the chorus further rouses the mood on stage. This production by Cesare LIEVI (first staged in 2009) saw the appearance of props like a 9-meter-long book and huge letters of the alphabet, and an actual-size small airplane, earning it a reputation for playfulness and on-the-mark psychological portrayals.

L'elisir d'amore

Goethe's classic "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther)", an eighteenth-century novel depicting the anguish of love and heartbreak, has been read all over the world. Composed over a century after the novel, Jules Massenet's opera Werther adds French romantic passion to Goethe's text, bringing it even closer to the heart. The work has many memorable moments, from the dramatic overture to Charlotte's "Air des lettres" and Werther's soulful aria "Porquoi me réveiller?" The staging by Nicolas JOEL, first seen in 2016, faithfully recreates the atmosphere of the original story and places the focus on Werther's sentiments.

Werther

The production that opened the 2021/2022 Season to much acclaim now returns to this season. This production by Sir Peter Wright is a stately work, full of dramatic elements that are very British. We trust you will enjoy this production of Swan Lake, combining the traditional charm of classic ballet with a new sense of drama.

Swan Lake

Elektra is a story of gruesome revenge. A daughter of the blood-soaked House of Atreus, Elektra burns with a blind passion for revenge and takes her own life after achieving her greatest wish. This opera condenses the Greek tragic drama from Sophocles into a one-act drama. Featuring what could be called one of the densest orchestrations in opera history as well as dramatically soaring soprano lines, the music conveys a dizzying array of powerful emotions--tension, hate, fear, joy and ecstasy--with superb elegance.

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

2 - 12 Apr, 2026

La Traviata

Apr 25 - May 3, 2026

Raymonda

16 - 27 May, 2026

L'elisir d'amore

24 - 30 May, 2026

Werther

5 - 14 Jun, 2026

Swan Lake

Dec 19, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026

The Nutcracker

4 - 7 Dec, 2025

Orpheus and Eurydice

Articles & News

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra