Architectural layout of the new national theater in Japan

As a "first-class" opera house in Asia, the New National Opera House has many advantages and experiences worth learning. First of all, its hardware facilities are at the international advanced level. The "Opera House" that holds large-scale opera or ballet performances can accommodate 1, 8 1.4 spectators (including 8 disabled seats on the first floor). Although the number of seats is small, there is a big stage of about 1.300 square meters, which consists of four stages: front, back, left and right. The main stage can be divided into1.8m long and 3.64m wide. There is a large "pit" of 15.7m below, which can make the whole or part of the stage "sink" or "rise" (sink or rise), and then move the left and right auxiliary stage or the back stage to the main stage position. The auxiliary stations on both sides are also composed of five "strips" with a length of 18.2m and a width of 3.64m, which can still be randomly divided as required). 18.2×18.2m square rear stage can be moved to the "front stage" to be used as a "turntable" with a diameter of16.4m. 1038 is used for smaller ballet, modern dance or drama performances, and a similar "opera house" is also set up. "chinese theater" is characterized in that not only the stage can be extended and moved, but also the walls of the auditorium can be moved, so that the theater can be adjusted into different forms such as "centralized" or "open" according to the needs of the performance form. There is also a "small theater", which is mainly used for the performance of dramas or some experimental operas. Although there is no "four-sided stage" facility and the number of seats is only 468, both the stage and the audience can move according to their needs, that is, the stage can be placed in the middle of the audience, in front of the audience, in the back of the stage, and so on, and even some of the audience can be raised into "stands". In addition to the stage and audience, other important factors to ensure the performance quality, such as the sound design of the opera house and the convenience of prop handling, have been considered very thoughtfully. "Opera House" covers an area of147m2, and can accommodate a band of 120 people. Its depth, the height of the pool wall and the surrounding materials (including the material of a metal pipe embedded in the upper part of the pool wall) are carefully designed according to the needs of sound transmission. The walls of the theater are made entirely of wood and are described as "a huge sounding box". The heights of the prop handling port and the cargo elevator are both 12m, that is to say, containers or large-scale scenery with a height close to 12m can be directly transported to the backstage facilities, and the whole container can be loaded into the elevator and transported above or below the floor.

The publicity of the New National Theatre is also reflected in its educational function. In addition to daily performances, the theater also undertakes the "heavy responsibility" of training young actors in China. After the opening of the theater, "Opera Training College" and "Ballet Training College" were established one after another. Students are openly enrolled every year (at present, there are 5 opera students and 8 ballet students in each period), and they can enjoy scholarship treatment only by paying a small amount of tuition (at present, opera students are 266,700 yen and ballet students are 6,543,800+089,000 yen) (opera students are 200,000 yen and ballet students are 200,000 yen per month). Training institutions adopt the "full-time" systematic teaching method (opera is a three-year academic system, in principle, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day; Ballet is a two-year program, seven and a half hours a day, five days a week. For example, the "Traditional Opera Training Institute" has arranged music (music theory, music history, etc.) and other courses. ), vocal music training, language, performance, physical training (including Japanese dance), and the number of teachers who take turns or teach all the year round far exceeds the number of students, many of whom are hired from foreign big opera houses. During the study period, I arranged many stage observation and internship activities. In addition to holding "internship performances" regularly, some students can also get the opportunity to formally participate in performances at the New National Theatre.

This "educational function" also radiates to ordinary citizens. The "internship performances" or open classes of the above-mentioned "drama academy" or "ballet academy" are basically open to the public free of charge, except for the "internship performances" of individual whole operas, and only need to collect tickets to enter (applicants often need to draw lots). What I admire most is the "reference room" set up on the sixth floor of the new National Theatre. Although the scale is not large (far less than the "Performing Arts Library" in Lincoln Center), it is very convenient and rich in information. In addition to the major performing arts journals at home and abroad, there are also program descriptions and a large number of video materials of previous performances in this theater. It is particularly worth mentioning that, in addition to the audio-visual materials of operas and ballets published by various record and audio-visual companies, this theater also keeps records of previous performances, and almost every round of performances can provide videos of several performances. In other words, readers can watch several different "versions" of any drama that has been staged in the New National Theatre, whether it is opera or ballet (there can be more than 5 or 6 kinds of the same drama). It should be emphasized that all the above books, magazines or video materials are free and open, and readers do not have to pay any fees.

Another feature of the new national theater in terms of "hardware" is that because the whole property is developed in cooperation with the people, there is no need to build a large number of supporting facilities. The new National Theatre is located in the Opera City of Tokyo. Although the theater itself has no concert hall facilities, there is a large concert hall and a small indoor concert hall in Orepa, with good acoustics. In addition, there are galleries, shops, a high-rise office building and a large number of catering facilities. The operation of these facilities or properties is not directly related to the New National Theater, but the public facilities and private facilities cooperate with each other to form a complement, which can not only provide various services for music and dance lovers, but also become a new dining and leisure place in Tokyo.

Whenever there is a traditional opera house in Europe, it is not only a "building", but also an excellent performing group. It is said that the ultimate goal of the new National Theatre is to develop into a European-style "repertory theatre" (that is, a real "opera house" with a number of repertory, opera or ballet works all the year round, and its own orchestra, choir, ballet and regular audience). At present, the theater has its own ballet and choir, as well as a number of contracted or registered actors. As shown in the following table (I will omit this table if it can't be posted in the forum), almost every performance season has arranged more than 10 sets of opera and dance performances. The performance of each play is arranged for 3-8 performances as needed. At the same time, a number of dramatic works (dramas, etc. ) was staged. Since its establishment more than six years ago, the Opera House has not only staged popular operas such as The Wedding of Figaro, La Traviata and Carmen, but also staged Japanese operas such as The Swordsman, Night Crane (Dan lkuma) and Silence (Teizô Matsumura), as well as turn of the screw by Britten and L by Haydn. From the software point of view, the management of the theater is in place, especially in the recording and preservation of performance materials and the disclosure of performance information. The operation of art performances and art theaters has its own characteristics and laws. In order to learn and introduce foreign advanced experience, the New National Theatre recently hired Thomas Radeski from vienna state opera as the artistic director of its opera department (called "artistic director" according to the popular name in China), and has officially taken office.