Abstract
Premiered in London in 1885 amid the height of the Japonisme craze, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado is set in an imaginary and highly unrealistic ‘Japan’. Because of its misrepresentations of Japanese people and culture, as well as concerns about portraying a character presented as ‘the Emperor of Japan’ on stage, this topsy-turvy tale has rarely been performed in Japan. Over the past decade, while a growing number of Gilbert and Sullivan societies around the world have abandoned conventional stagings in favour of less offensive reinterpretations, theatre enthusiasts in Japan have seldom joined the discussion, largely because they have had little opportunity to become familiar with the work itself or with the ways it has traditionally been performed and appreciated in the English-speaking world.
To help bridge this information gap and encourage informed discussion, this lecture concert will first introduce audiences to the world of The Mikado, outlining its plot and examining recent trends in its reinterpretation. Excerpts from The Mikado will then be performed by established and emerging soloists, offering audiences a glimpse of the irresistible combination of Gilbert’s verbal virtuosity and Sullivan’s musical mastery.
Event Outline
- Date and Time: Sat. 12 September 2026, 14:00 – 16:30 (JST)
- Venue: Ono Auditorium, Waseda University
- Admission: Open to the public; advance registration required
- Language: Lecture in Japanese; concert performed in English with Japanese surtitles
- Organized by: Waseda Institute of Research in Opera and Music Theatre (WIROM), Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University
- Produced by: Concordia
Program
Opening Remarks — ISHII Michiko
Introduction to The Mikado — ONISHI Yuki
Concert Performance of Excerpts from The Mikado
KITAGAWA Tatsuhiko (Bass-baritone)
YOSHIDA Ren (Tenor)
IDE Soshiro (Baritone)
IWAMI Yodai (Baritone)
MATSUDA Ken (Tenor)
FUKUSHI Saki (Soprano)
MOCHIDA Atsuko (Mezzo-soprano)
AMAGASA Kana (Soprano)
SOMATOMO Keiko (Mezzo-soprano)
SHIMIZU Aya (Piano)
ASHIZAWA Makoto (Piano)
Closing Remarks — ONISHI Yuki
Profile of Presenter
ONISHI Yuki is a lecturer of comparative literature and culture at Daito Bunka University in Saitama, Japan and an adjunct researcher of Waseda Institute of Research in Opera and Music Theatre (WIROM). Her first monograph, The Birth of Japanese-Language Opera, 1902–1923 (Tokyo: Shinwasha, 2018, in Japanese) won awards from the Japanese Society for Theatre Research and the Japan Comparative Literature Association. She received her Ph.D. in 2017 at the University of Tokyo, Komaba.
Registration
Admission is free, but limited to the first 200 registrants. Advance online registration is required.
https://forms.gle/NLjrXYF2gA19DC1s9
Registration will open at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 15 June 2026, and close at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, 11 September 2026.
Contact
mikado20260912[at]gmail.com
([at] = @)
